
Qass_ L b IS 11 

Book . M f 7 

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5-3lH12X 



LESSONS 



ON 

COMMON THINGS; 

THEIR 

ORIGIN, NATURE, AND USES. 

FOR 

THE USE OF SCHOOLS AND FAINHLIES. 
ILLUSTRATED WITH FIFTY-TWO ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD. 



EDITED BY J. FROST 



L^i 




"^ ff lints tlp\) IK: 
THOMAS T. ASH, CHESNUT STREET. 

1835 



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Entered according to the act of Congress in the year 1835^ 
by John Frost, in the clerk's office of the district court of the 
eastern dist'ict of Pennsylvania. . .' 



Z J /7 



ADVERTISEMENT OF THE AMERICAN EDITOR. 



The following work is an improved edition of 
an English- book entitled Lessons on Objects, 
originally published by the teachers of a Pesta- 
lozzian school, in which the lessons were given 
for many years before their publication. 

In presenting them to the American public, 
the editor has found it necessary, besides fre- 
queiitly changing hard and Latinized words for 
common ones, to remove one fault existing 
in almost every English school-book ; which 
is an apparently studied neglect of this coun- 
try. With the exception of works on Geog- 
raphy, it would be difficult to find a book of this 
class in which the existence of the United States 
of America as one of the nations of the earth is 
recognized. The removal of this objection in a 
work treating of productions and manufactures, 
was a matter of obvious necessity. 

It is presumed that the mere announcement of 
the subject and design of the present work, will 
arrest the attention of all those who are desirous 
of improving the methods of instruction. A 
demonstrative, explanatory, thorough system in 
all the different stages of instruction is now de- 
manded by the public. The foundation of such 
a system must be laid in lessons on things. 
I* 



ADVERTISExMENT 
TO THE THIRD EDITION. 



Many, instructors have used this book without 
giving it out to the classes. Others have made a 
more successful experiment by using it as a class 
book, allowing each pupil to have a copy, and 
learn his lesson from the book as well as from 
the objects. By possessing this double advantage, 
the pupil acquires more definite ideas of the mean- 
ing of words, and the exact properties and quali- 
ties they indicate, than he does by the usual mode 
of committing to memory the pages of a " De- 
finer." 



CONTENTS. 



FIRST SERIES. 



Introductory Remarks 19 

Lesson I. Glass 22 

II. Indian Rubber 25 

III. Leather 25 

IV. Loaf Sugar 26 

V. A Piece of Gum Arabic 26 

VL Sponge 27 

VII. Wool 28 

VIII. Water 28 

IX. A Piece of Wax 29 

X. Camphor 30 

XI. Bread 30 

XII. Sealing Wax 51 

XIII. Whalebone 32 

XIV. Gmger 32 

XV. Blotting Paper. 33 

XVL A Piece of Willow 33 

XVIL Milk 34 

XVIII. Rice 34 

XIX. Salt 35 

XX. Horn 35 

XXI. Ivory . . . ■. 36 

XXIL Chalk, 36 

XXIII. A Piece of the Bark of the Oak Tree 37 



SECOND SERIES. 



Introductory Remarks 40 

Lesson I. A Pin 41 

II. A Cube of Wood 42 

III. An uncut Lead Pencil 42 

IV. A Pen 43 

V. A Wax Candle 44 



via CONTENTS. 

Page 

Lesson VI. A Chair 45 

VII. A Book 46 

VIIL An Egg 47 

IX. A Thimble 47 

X. A Penknife 48 

XI. A Key 49 

XII. A Cup 49 

XIII. A Grain of Coffee 50 

XIV. A Pair of Scissors 50 

THIRD SERIES. 

Introductory Remarks 54 

Lesson I. A Quill 54 

' IL A Cent 57 

III. Mustard Seed 58 

IV. An Apple 59 

V. A Glass of a Watch 61 

VI. Brown Sugar 61 

VII. An Acorn 62 

VIII. A Piece of Honey-Comb 63 

IX. Refined Sugar 64 

X. A Butter-Cup 65 

XL A Lady-Bird 66 

XII. An Oystor 67 

XIII. A Fir or Pine Cone 68 

XIV. A Fur 68 

XV. A Laurel Leaf 69 

XVL A Needle 69 

XVII. A Stone 70 



FOURTH SERIES. 

ON THE SENSES. 

Introductory Remarks 79 

Lesson I. Feeling or Touch 81 

IL Sight 84 

III. Hearing 85 

TV. Smell 86 

V. Taste 87 



ON THE SPICES. 

Page 

Lesson VI. Pepper 88 

VII. Nutmeg 89 

VIII. Mace 91 

IX. Cinnamon . .\ 93 

X. Ginger 94 

XI. Allspice 95 

XII. Cloves 96 

ON LIQUIDS. 

XIII. Water 99 

XIV. Oil .101 

XV. Beer 102 

XVI. Vinegar 104 

XVII. Foreign White Wine 105 

XVIII. Ink 106 

XIX. Milk 107 



FIFTH SERIES. 

Introductory Rem^vrks 113 

Lesson I. Leather 114 

IL Cork 115 

III. Indian Rubber, or Gum Elastic. . . . 116 

IV. Sponge 117 

V. Camphor 118 

VL Horn 118 

VII. SheU Lac 119 

VIIL Wax Candle 119 

IX. Glue 120 

X. Coffee 121 

XL Tea 122 

XII. Sago 122 

XIII. Rice 123 

XIV. Paper 124 

XV. Parchment 127 

XVL Glass 128 

XVII. Whalebone 129 

XVIIL Bread. 130 

XIX. Sugar 1.31 



X CONTENTS. 

Page 

Lesson XX. Hemp ] 32 

XXI. Flax 133 

XXII. Cotton 135 

XXIII. Wool 135 

XXIV. Silk. 137 

XXV. Court Plaster 138 

XXVI. Saffron 139 

XXVII. Butter 140 

XXVIII. Cheese 141 

XXIX. Putty 141 

' XXX. Starch 142 

XXXI. Felt 142 

XXXII. Porcelain 144 

ON THE METALS. 

Introductory Remarks 146 

Lesson XXXIII. Gold 146 

XXXIV. Silver 151 

XXXV. Quicksilver, or Mercury 154 

XXXVL Lead 158 

XXXVII. Copper 162 

XXXVIIL Iron 166 

XXXIX. Tin 170 

XL. Comparisons of the Metals 173 

XLI. On Metals in general 174 

Questions on the Metals 176 



ON EARTHS. 



Lesson XLII. Lime 180 

XLIIL Silica 184 

XLIV. Alumine, or Argil 186 

Questions on the Earths 189 

Lesson XLV. Coal 191 

XLVI. Granite 194 

XLVII. Salt 195 

XLVIII. Slate 199 

XLIX. Coral 200 

Dictionary '. 202 



ii 



FIRST SERIES. 



IVORY. 




s=i?3*Vir<?o^ 



The teeth of Elephants, Walruses, &c. are call- 
ed ivory. Ivory is very serviceable in the useful 
and ornamental arts ; and the quantity of it which 
is annually consumed for various purposes is very 
considerable. There is said to be a marked dif- 
ference in the texture and quality of the ivory of 
the Asiatic and African Elephants. That of the 
Walrus is much superior to either, and was much 
used by dentists before the invention of porcelain 
teeth. 



12 



FIRST SERIES. 



LEATHER. 




When enjoying the pleasures of a sleigh-ride, 
we may be forcibly reminded of the many uses 
of leather. Not only our riding-caps and boots, 
but many other parts of our dress, as well as our 
whip and harness, are made of this material ; and 
their presence suggests many other applications 
of this every-day article, which will readily occur 
to the youthful reader. 



13 



FIRST SERIES. 



WATER. 




It were an endless task to enumerate the uses 
of water, since it is indispensable in almost every 
operation of the useful and scientific arts. Not 
only the mill and the steamboat are set in motion 
by its agency, but all the mechanical business of 
life, and all the changes which are going forward 
in the kingdoms of nature, depend on the presence 
of water, in the ocean, the river, the earth, and 
the air. 

2 



H 



FIRST SERIES. 



BREAD. 




Bread, emphatically called the staff of life, is 
produced by the labour of the husbandman, 
i^lour, which makes the finest bread, is made of 
wheat ground in a mill, and bolted through fine 
sieves which separate it from the coarser part of 
the gram, which is called bran. 



15 



FIRST SERIES. 



SALT. 




Most of the salt which we use is produced from 
the water of the sea. By exposing sea water to 
heat, the water is driven otf in the shape of vapour, 
and the salt which was held in solution (dissolved) 
in it, becomes solid. Salt is also found in a solid 
state in the earth ; and is dug out thence in great 
quantities. 



16 



FIRST SERIES. 



HORN. 




The horn used for making combs, powder- 
flasks, &c. is that of animals of the ox kind. 
That which is used for the handles of knives and 
forks is taken from the deer 



FIRST SERIES. 



GLASS. 




Nothing illustrates the utility of glass more 
finely than the green-house. By this happy con- 
trivance we are enabled to enjoy, in the depths of 
winter, the flowers of spring, and the fruits of 
summer and autumn, and to bring to perfection 
in our northern climates the productions of the 
tropical regions. 



18 



FIRST SERIES. 



BARK OF THE OAK TREE. 




The bark of the oak tree-is much used for the 
purpose of tannhig leather. It is also consumed 
for fuel in those parts of our country where it is 
abundant. There are many varieties of the oak 
in the United States. The live oak, which is con- 
sidered the best for constructing ships of war, is 
produced in Florida. 



LESSONS ON THINGS, 



FIRST SERIES. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

To lead children to observe with attention the 
objects by which they are surrounded, and then 
to describe with accuracy the impressions w^hich 
they have received, appears to be the first busi- 
ness of education. 

The ceaseless activity of the perceptive facul- 
ties, which characterizes the period of childhood, 
will convince those who would act in harmony 
with nature, that this is the best course of instruc- 
tion to be adopted. It gives animation to the 
dull, and precision to the lively ; it promotes that 
clearness of apprehension, which is the solid ba- 
sis of after-attainment, without which our judg- 
ments are unsound, and our reasonings inconclu- 
sive. As the sphere of observation is enlarged, 
and the pages of history, or the fields of science, 
are explored, the mind accustomed to accurate 
investigation Avill not rest content with less than 
satisfactory evidence, either in morals or in sci- 
ence. 



20 FIRST SERIES. 

This work consists of five series of lessons, in- 
creasing in difficulty as the pupil advances. The 
order observed in them is the result of some ex- 
perience, and of several trials, which have pro- 
duced a strong conviction of the importance and 
value of a methodical arrangement, and of a very 
gradual progression. It is t^jerefore recommended 
that no step in the course should be altogether 
omitted, though the age and talents of the chil- 
dren must regulate the time bestowed on each. 

The first series presents a selection of miscel- 
laneous objects, each of which possesses some 
distinguishing quality, yet so arranged as to have 
an obvious connexion with what has preceded. 
The children should be practised in remarking 
those qualities observable by the sijnple operation 
of the external senses, deferring those requiring 
a higher exercise of mind till a more advanced 
period. 

One lesson is drawn cut fully as a specimen of 
the manner in which the others should be given. 
It would have extended the volume to an unne- 
cessary length, and filled it with needless repeti- 
tions, had each been made out with equal mi- 
nuteness. Much information might have been 
thrown into the preliminary set, but as the end 
proposed was rather to excite the mental powers 
to activity, than to provide them with food, it has 
been purposely avoided. 

It may perhaps be necessary to guard against 
the error of expecting, in a work like the present, 
anything more than4iints as to the mode of ar- 
ranging and imparting knowledge. The Teacher 
must be previously well grounded, in order to 
meet the inquiries which the active minds of 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 21 

children continually suggest. Their questions 
will generally point out the best mode of treat- 
ing a subject, or of leading them to the discovery 
of any truth. Precise unvarying rules may be 
laid down for mechanical operations, but mind 
alone can act upon mind, and bring it into vig- 
orous exercise. All instruction must be dry and 
uninteresting which has not undergone some mod- 
ification from the person by whom it is communi- 
cated. One principal fault, into which Teachers 
are liable to fall, is that of telling too much to 
their pupils, who welcome the information with 
pleasure, but allow their minds to remain almost 
passive, and thus acquire the habit of receiving 
impressions from others, at a time when they 
ought to be gaining strength, by an exertion of 
their own powers. Another is that of giving a 
term, before the pupil has felt his want of it. 
When the idea of any quality has been formed 
in his mind, without his being able to express it, 
the name given under such circumstances fixes it 
on the memory : thus, when a child observes 
that whalebone, after having been bent, returns to 
its original position, he may be told that this prop- 
erty which he has discovered is called elastic. 

The following pages were written originally 
with no view to publication, but merely for the 
use of the school in which they were given ; and 
the information they contain was draAvn froni va- 
rious sources. No memorandum being made at 
the time, it would be now impossible to assign 
each passage to its respective author, though it 
is probable that those acquainted with the popu- 
lar works on the subjects here treated of, may 
detect, in some places, almost literal quotations. 



22 FIRST SERIES. 

LESSON I. 



Glass has been selected as the first substance 
to be presented to the children, because the 
qualities which characterize it are quite obvious 
to the senses. The pupils should be arranged 
before a black boaiJ or slate, upon which the 
result of their obr :'ation should be written. 
The utility of havii the lesson presented to the 
eyes of each child, w^ith the power of thus recall- 
ing attention to what has occurred, will very soon 
be appreciated by the instructor. 

The glass should be passed round the party 
to be examined by each individual.* 

Teacher. What is that which I hold in my 
hand ? 

Children. A piece of glass. 

Teacher. Can you spell the word "glass"? 
(The teacher then writes the word " glass" upon 
the slate, which is thus presented to the whole 
class as the subject of the lesson.) You have all 
examined this glass ; what do you observe? What 
can you say that it is ?t 

Children. It is bright. 

* By this means each individual in the class is called upon 
to exercise his own powers on the object presented ; the sub- 
sequent questions of the teacher tend only to draw out the 
ideas of the children, and to correct them if wrong. 

t This question is put instead of asking, " What are its 

qualities ?" because the children would not yet, iu all proba- - 

bilitv, understand the meaning of the term, but by its frequent 

' ation to the answers to this question, they will shortly 

lis familiarized with if. 



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LESSON I. GLASS. 23 

Teacher. (Teacher having written the word 
" qualities," writes under it — It is bright.) Take 
it in your hand and feel* it. 

Children. It is cold. (Written on the board 
under the former quality.) 

Teacher. Feel it again, and compare it with 
the piece of sponge that is tied to your slate, and 
then tell me what you perceive in the glass.f 

Children. It is smooth — it is hard. 

Teacher. Is there any other glass in the room ? 

Children. Yes. The windows. 

Teacher. (Closes the shutters) Can you see 
the garden now ? 

Children. No. 

Teacher. Why cannot you 1 

Children. We cannot see through the shutters. 

Teacher. What can you say then of the glass 1 

Children. We can see through it. 

Teacher. Can you tell me any word that will 
express this quality? 

Children. No. 

Teacher. I will tell you then; pay attention, 
I that you may recollect it. It is transparent.;]: 

* The art of the teacher is to put such questions as may 
lead successively to the exercise of the dilTerent senses. 

t The object of the teacher here is to lead the pupil to the 
observation of the quality smooth, and he does so by making 
'; hira contrast it with the opposite quality in another substance ; 
a mode of suggestion, of which frequent use may be made. 

X The fact of the glass being transparent is so familiar to 

the children, that they will probably not observe it, till its 

great use in consequence of that quality brings it forcibly 

Sefore their minds. They then feel the w-ant of a term to 

^press the idea thus formed, and the teacher gives them th'e 

ord, as a sign for it, and in order to impress it upon their 

•inds. To ascertain whether they have rightly comprehended 



2 1 FIRST SERIES. 

What shall you now understand when I tell you 
that a substance is transparent? 

Children. That you can see through it. 

Teacher. You are right.* Try and recollect 
something that is transparent. 

Children. Water. 

Teacher. If I were to let this gla^s fall, or 
you were to throw a ball at the wind )w, what 
would be the consequence ? 

Children. The glass would be broken. It is 
brittle. 

Teacher. Could I in the same manner break 
the shutter? 

Children. No. 

Teacher. Could I break it if I used great 
force ? 

Children. Yes. 

Teacher. Would you therefore call the wood 
brittle? 

Children. No. 

Teacher. What substances then do you call 
brittle ? 

Children. Those which are easily broken. 

These are probably as many qualities as would 
occur to children at their first attempt, which 
being arranged on the slate form an exercise in 
spelling. They should then be effaced, and if 
the pupils are able to write, they may endeavour 
to remember the lesson, and put it down on their 
slates. 

the meaning of the word, they are called upon to give ex- 
amples of its application. 

* It is but too common a y)ractice to call a child good be- 
cause he gives a right answer, thus confounding intellectual 
truth and moral virtue. 



LESSON II. III. IXDIAN RUBBER, LEATHER. 2.J 

LESSON n. 

IXDIAN RUBBER. 

This substance has been chosen that the class 
may observe the qualities opaque, elastic, in- 
flammable. The first would be made clear to 
them by contrasting the Indian rubber with the 
glass of the preceding lesson ; the second, by 
stretching it, and allowing it to resume its former 
shape ,• the third, by setting it on fire. 

Qualities of Indian Rubber. 

It is opaque, 
elastic, 
inflammable, 
tough, 
smooth. 
Uses. — ^To rub out pencil marks — to form balls 
and shoes. 

LESSON III. 

LEATHER. 

Ideas to be developed by the examination of 
this suhstSLUce— flexible, odorous, durable. 

Qualities of Leather. 

It is flexible, 
odorous, 
tough, 
smooth, 
durable, 
opaque. 
3 



26 FIRST SERIES. 

r/ses.— For shoes, gloves, reins, saddles, port- 
manteaus — for binding books— covering trunks. " 



LESSON IV. 

LOAF SUGAR. 

Ideas to be developed by this lesson, soluble, 
fusible, sparkling. 

Qualities of Loaf Sugar. 

It is soluble, or dissolvable in water, 
fusible,* or may be melted by heat, 
brittle, 
hard. 
, sweet, 
white, 
solid, 
opaque. 
Use. — To sweeten our food. 

LESSON V. 

A PIECE OF aUM ARABIC. 

Ideas to be developed by this lesson, semi- 
transparent, adhesive. 



* The difference between fusibility and solubility may be 
rendered obvious to the children by dissolving one piece of 
sugar in water and holding another over the candle. If any 
experiment be necessary to exhibit the quality of an object, 
the operation should be performed before the children, that 
they may themselves observe it. 



LESSON V. \I. GUM ARABIC, SPONGE. 27 

Qualities of Gum Arabic. 

It is hard, 
bright, 
yellow. 

semi-transparent, 
dissolvable, or soluble in water, 
sticky when melted, 
solid. 
Use To unite light thin substances. 

LESSON VI. 

SPONGE. 

Ideas to be developed by this lesson, yorous, 
absorbent. 

Qualities of Sponge. 

It is porous. 

absorbent.* 
soft, 
tough, 
opaque. 

elastic, or springy, 
flexible, or easily bent, 
light brown. 
Use. — For washing. - 



* The quality of absorbing will be made obvious to the 
class, by showing' that the sponge sucks up any liquid. It 
possesses this quality in consequence of its being full of pores. 
The use to which an object is applied, often leads to the ob- 
servation of the quality upon which the use is dependent. 



28 FIRST SERIES. 

LESSON VII. 

WOOL. 

Qualities of Wool. 

It is soft. 

absorbent. 

flexible. 

elastic. 

tough. 

durable. 

opaque. 

dry. 

light. 

Uses.—Fov making cloth, flannels, blankets, 
carpets, stockings, &c. 

LESSON VIII. 

WATER. 

Ideas to be developed by this lesson, liquid, 
reflective, glassy, tasteless, inodorous. 

Qualities of Water. 

It is liquid. 

reflective.* 
colorless, or clear, 
inodorous,-]- or without smell. 



* Reflecting images, lilie a looking-glass. 

t In order to direct the attention of the class to the force 
of the syllables less and zn, the teacher would ask, — What is 
meant by tasteZess ? Having no taste. What is meant by in- 



LESSON VIII. IX.— WATER, WAX. 29 

It is tasteless, insipid, without any taste, 
transparent, 
heavy, 
bright, 
wholesome, 
purifying. 

Uses. — To cleanse, to fertilize, to drink, for 
culinary purposes, for moving water-wheels. 



LESSON IX. 

A PIECE OF WAX. 

This substance is here introduced, because it 
possesses many of the qualities already remarked. 

•► * Qualities of Wax. 

It is solid, 
opaque, 
tough, 
fusible, 
sticky, 
yellowish, 
hard, 
odorous, 
smooth. 

Use. — To make candles and tapers. 

odorous ? Having no odor. In what are these words alike ? 
They both tell us wliat the substance is not. They mark then 
the absence of a quality. What syllables of the words mark this 
absence of the quality ? %ss and in. Give examples of words 
in wlych less and in are so used. 
3* 



80 FIRST SERIES. 

LESSON X. 

CAMPHOR. 

Ideas to be developed by this lesson, aromatic, 
friable, volatile. 

Qualities of Camphor, 

It is aromatic, i. e. spicy or fragrant. 

easily crumbling or friable. 

white. 

semi-transparent. 

bright. 

soluble in spirits. 

hard. 

solid. 

very inflammable. ^ 

medicinal. 

light. 

volatile, flying or evaporating. 
Uses*-— For medicine. To prevent infection, 
to preserve Cabinets from small insects, and 
clothes from moths. 

LESSON XL 

BREAD. 

Ideas to be developed by this lesson, eatable, 
wholesome, nutritious. 

Qualities of Bread. 

It is porous, 
absorbent. 



LESSON Xr. XII BREAD, SEALING-WAX. 31 

It is opaque, 
solid. 

wholesome, 
nutritious, 
eatable. 
The crumb is yellowish white, 
soft when new. 
moist. 
The crust is hard, 
brittle, 
brown. 
Use. — To nourish. 



LESSON XII. 

SEALING WAX. 

Idea to be developed by this lesson — impressible* 

Qualities of Sealing Wax. 

It is hard, 
bright, 
brittle, 
fusible, 
opaque. 

soluble in spirits, 
light, 
solid, 
smooth, 
colored.* 
inflammable, 
odorous. 

* The color may be determined by the specimen presented. 



32 FIRST SERIES* 

When fused it is soft. 

impressible, or easily marked. 

adhesive, or sticky. 
rr^e.— To seal letters and packages. 

LESSON XIII. 

WHALEBONE. 

Idea to be developed — -fibrous. 

Qualities of Whalebone. 
It is elastic* 
durable, 
hard. 

fibrous or stringy, 
opaque, 
bright, 
stiff. 
17565.— As a stiffener. For whips, bludgeons, 
umbrellas, &c. 

LESSON XIV. 

GINGER. 

Idea to be developed by this lesson,— ;pwn^en#. 

Qualities of Ginger. 
It is pungent, or acrid to the taste, 
hard, 
dry. 
fibrous, 
aromatic. 



* The class should be led to compare the elasticity of 
whalebone, with that of Indian Rubber, and to observe the 
diflerence. 



LESSON XV. XVI. ^BLOTTING PAPER, WILLOW. 33 

It is tough, 
opaque, 
wholesome, 
medicinal, 
light brown. 
Uses*'— 'To flavor food. For medicine. 

LESSON XV. 

BLOTTING PAPER. 

Ideas to be developed by this lesson, — pinkish, 
Ish added to words expressive of quality, generally 
denotes the presence of the quality, but in a 
moderate degree. 

Qualities of Blotting Paper, 

It is absorbent, 
porous, 
soft, 
pinkish, 
pliable, 
dull. 

inflammable, 
easily torn. 
Use. — To suck up the superfluous ink. 

LESSON XVI. 

A PIECE OP WILLOW. 

Qualities of Willow, 

It is hard. 

inflammable, or easily set on fire, 
fibrous. 



34 FIRST SERIES. 

It is opaque, 
solid, 
elastic, 
flexible, 
white, 
odorous. 
Uses, — To make hats, and bonnets, and to burn 
for fuel. 

LESSON XVII. 

MILK. 

Qualities of Milk, 

It is white, 
fluid, 
liquid, 
opaque, 
wholesome, 
greasy, 
nutritious, 
sweet. 
Uses.^-To make cheese, butter, puddings, and 
to drink. 

LESSON XVIII. 

RICE. 

Qualities of Rice. 

It is white, 
hard, 
opaque, 
smoothv 
stiflr, 



LESSON XIX. XX. SALT, MILK. 35 

It is bright, 
solid, 
porous, 
absorbent, 
wholesome, 
nutritious. 
Uses. — To nourish, to make drawing paper. 

LESSON XIX. 

SALT. 

Ideas to be developed by this lesson, granulous, 
saline, sapid. 

Qualities of Salt. 
It is white. 

sparkling. 

granulous, or full of grains, 
salt, or saline, 
hard, 
opaque, 
soluble, 
fusible. 
It has taste (or is sapid.) 
Uses. — To flavor food, to preserve from putre- 
faction, to manure land. 

LESSON XX. 

A HORN. 

Qualities of a horn. 
It is hard.- 
uneven. 
hollow. 



'S6 FIRST SERIES. 

It is odorous when burnt, 
tapering, 
opaque, 
stiff. 

yellowish brown, 
fibrous. 
Uses — To make combs, glue, lanterns, handles 
to knives and forks. 

LESSON XXI. 

IVORY. 

Qualities of Ivory. 

It is hard, 
white, 
smooth, 
bright, 
opaque, 
solid, 
durable. 

LESSON XXII. 

CHALK. 

Idea to be developed by this lesson — efervescenU* 
Qualities of Chalk, 

It is white, 
friable. 

effervescent in acids, 
opaque. 

* This quality may be made apparent to the children by 
putting the chalk in vinegar. 



LESSON XXIII. BARK. 37 

It is dull, 
hard, 
solid, 
dry. 
soluble. 

LESSON XXIII. 

PIECE OF THE BARK OF THE OAK TREE. 

Qualities. 

It is brown, 
rugged, 
opaque, 
dry. 

inflammable, 
stiff. 

inside smooth, 
solid, 
durable, 
fibrous, 
dull. 



38 



SECOND SERIES. 



FAMILIAR OBJECTS. 




A Cube of Wood. A Grain of Coffee. 




A Penknife. 




A Chair. 





A Key. 



EH 



A Thimble. 




A Pin. 



A Pen. 



39 



SECOND SERIES. 



FAMILIAR OBJECTS. 




A Pair of Scissors. 




A Book. 




A Pencil in use. 




An Egg 




A Candl( 




A Cup. 



SECOND SERIES. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

In this series the children should be much ex- 
ercised upon the qualities already remarked, but 
which should now be presented to them in other 
objects. This repetition combines with the ad- 
vantage of fixing the knowledge acquired, that of 
enabling them to form the abstract idea of the 
quality. 

Having had all their senses brought into action, 
they may be led to determine by the exercise of 
which any particular property was observed : thus, 
How did you find out that glass was transparent ? 
By my eyes. What can you do with your eyes ? 
See. Seeing is called a sense. Can you obtain 
an idea of a quality except by the sense of sight? 
Will your sight discover to you that a rose is 
odorous? How would you ascertain this quality? 
By what sense ? By smelling. The sense of smell- 
ing. By similar questions the class will gain a 
clear conception of the several senses, and their 
operations. They may next proceed to the ob- 
servation of the organs of sense. Thus, By what 
natural instrument are you able to see, hear, &c. ? 
By eyes, ears, &c. Any natural instrument by 
which something is performed, is called an organ. 
What are the eyes? Organs. Organs of what 
sense ? Organs of sight, &c. 



LESSON I. A PIN. 41 

It will be a useful exercise for the children to 
classify the various qualities, with which their 
minds are now stored, under the heads of the 
different senses by which they are discerned. 
They will soon perceive that some may be dis- 
covered by either of two senses; for example, 
fluid, solid, rough and the varieties of form, which 
may be ascertained, either by sight or feeling : 
these should constitute another division. It is 
obvious, that children thus trained from their earli- 
est years to arrange their ideas, would acquire a 
great readiness in making use of their knowledge, 
and a facility in producing new combinations. In 
this series, they may also be practised in distin- 
guishing and naming the parts of objects. 

LESSON I. 

A PIN. 

A pin has been chosen for the first lesson, 
because the parts are simple, clearly marked, and 
few. 



Parts. 




Qualities. 


The head. 




It is hard. 


shank, 
point. 




opaque. 

white. 

bright. 

solid. 

useful. 

smooth. 

cold. 




the head is round. 




the point is sharp, 
the shank is straight, 



taper. 



42 SECOND SERIES. 

Uses. — To keep together the parts of our dress ; 
or whatever we wish to be united only for a time. 

LESSON II. 

A CUBE or WOOD. 

The cube will convey to the class a good idea 
of a surface ; they will observe that the outeide is 
divided into several parts, and may learn that the 
boundaries of a solid are called surfaces. 
Pa7'ts> Qualities. 

The surfaces. It is hard, 

edges. light, 

corners. solid, 

brown, 
smooth, 
inflammable, 
opaque, 
the surfaces are flat. 

square, 
the edges are straight, 
the corners are sharp. 

LESSON III. 

AN UNCUT LEAD-PENCIX. 

The new ideas presented to the children in 
this lesson are the ends, which are flat surfaces 
and the curved surface : from this object they 
therefore become acquainted with the form cylin- 
drical. 

Parts, Qualities. 

The surfaces. It is hard, 

ends. odorous. 



LESSON IV. A PEN. 43 

Parts. Qualities. 

exterior or outside. long-, 

interior or inside. solid, 

middle. opaque, 

lead. inflammable, 

wood. dry, 

reddish, 
veined, 
one surface is curved, 
the ends are flat. 

circular, 
form cylindrical, 
the lead is black, 
brittle, 
friable, 
bright. 
Uses. — For writing, drawing, &;c. Let the 
children point out on what occasions a pencil is 
preferable to a pen. 

LESSON IV. 



A pen leads to the observation of many parts, 
and also presents opposite qualities in its diflferent 
parts. 

Parts. Qualities. 

The quill. The quill is transparent. 



shaft. 






cylindrical. 


feather. 






hollow. 


laminae, 


or par 


ts of the feather. 


bright. 


pith. 






hard. 


nib. 






elastic. 


split. 






yellowis'j 



44 





SECOND SERIES. 


Parts. 


Qualities. 


shoulders. 


horny. 


surfaces. 


the shaft is opaque. 


skin. 


angular. 


groove. 


solid. 


inside. 


white. 


outside. 


stiff. 




hard. 




grooved. 




the pith is white. 




spongy. 




porous. 




elastic. 




compressible. 




soft. 




LESSON V. 




A WAX CANDLE. 



This object recalls the idea of the form cylin- 
drical, gained in a previous lesson, and presents 
the peculiar parts of the candle itself. 



Parts. 


Qualities. 


The wick. 


It is cylindrical. 


wax. 


hard. 


surfaces. 


opaque. 


ends. 


yellowish white. 


curved surface. 


Wax is sticky. 


edges. 


fusible. 


top. 


The wick is inflammable, 


bottom. 


tough. 


middle. 


white. 


inside. 


porous. 


outside. 


flexible. 


Use.- 


-To give light. 



LESSON VI. A CHAIR. 45 

LESSON YI. 

A CHAIR. 

This, and several of the succeeding lessons, 
are chosen on account of the great variety of the 
parts of the objects. 

Parts. 
The back, 
front, 
seat, 
top. 

bottom, 
frame, 
legs, 
straw, 
edges. 

upper part of seat, 
under part of seat, 
bars, 
surfaces, 
corners. 

It is obvious that the qualities are not named, 
as they would depend so entirely upon the kind 
of chair chosen for the lesson. 

It is a useful exercise to make the children 
compare the relative proportions and situations 
of the different parts of an object. Thus, in the 
chair, the depth of the seat is about one-half the' 
height of the chair ; the legs are rather shorter 
than the back ; the seat is narrower at the back 
than the front, &;c. The legs are perpendicular, 
the seat horizontal, the back slanting, the bars hori- 
zontal and parallel. 



46 SECOND SERIES. 

LESSON VII. 

A BOOK. 

Parts, 
The outside, 
inside, 
edges, 
corners, 
binding, 
paper, 
back, 
sides, 
top. 
bottom, 
title-page, 
preface, 
introduction, 
contents, 
end. 
leaves, 
pages, 
margin, 
beginning, 
type, 
letters, 
numbers, 
stops, 
words, 
sentences, 
syllables, 
title, 
lettering, 
stitching, 
lines. 



LESSON VIII. AN EGG, A THIMBLE. 4 ( 




LESSON VIII. 




AN EGG. 


Parts. 


Qualities, 


The shell. 


It is oval. 


skin. 


white. 


white. 


hard. 


yolk. 


edible. 


interior. 


nutritious. 


exterior. 


opaque. 


surface. 


shell is brittle. 




smooth. 




thin. 


The white is liquid when raw. 




solid when boiled. 




semi-transparent when raw. 




opaque when boiled. 




adhesive. 




sticky. 




insipid. 


Yolk is yellow. 




liquid. 




soft. 




opaque. 




odorous. 




sapid. 




LESSON IX. 




A THIMBLE. 


Parts, 


Qualities. 


The inside. 


It is hollow. 


outside. 


silver. 



48 



SECOND 


SERIES. 


Parts. 


Qualities, 


top. 
bottom. 


cylindrical, 
white. 


rim. 

border. 

indentations. 


bright. 

opaq[ue. 

hard. 




curved. 




Inside is smooth. 




Outside is rouffh. 



Use.'— To preserve the middle finger from being 
pricked in working with a needle. 





LESSON X. 






A PEN-KNIFE. 




Parts, 




Qualities. 


The handle. 




The blade is 


5 steel. 


blade. 




- ' 


bright. 


plates. 






cold. 


grooves. 






hard. 


- back of the handle. 


reflective. 


back of the blade. *- 


opaque. 


point. 






brittle. 


edge. 




the front edge is thin. 


spring. 






sharp. 


rivets. 




the back edge is blunt. 


pivot. 






thick. 


heel. 




handle hollow. 


i 




flat. 






Use.- 


—To cut. 




The other qualities 


depend upon 


the kind of 


«wiife shown. 









LESSON XI. XII. A KEY, A CUP. 



40 





LESSON XI. 




A KEY. 


Parts. 


Qualities. 


The ring. 


It is hard. 


barrel. 


steel, or iron. 


wards. 


bright. 


grooves. 


cold. 


edges. 


opaque. 


surfaces. 


smooth. 


corners. 


stiff. 




liable to rust. 




part of the barrel is hollow. 




the barrel is cylindrical. 




the ring is curved. 




LESSON XII. 



A CUP. 



Parts. 

The bowl, 
handle, 
upper rim. 
lower rim. 
bottom, 
inside, 
outside, 
edges, 
surfaces. 



Qualities. 



It is hollow, 
hard, 
glossy, 
curved, 
smooth, 
glazed, 
cold, 
brittle, 
thin, 
useful. 
The rim is circular 



50 SECOND SERIES. 

LESSON XIII. 

A GRAIN OF COFFEE. 



Parts, 




Qualities. 


The surfaces. 




If roasted it is brown. 


curved surfaces, 


hard. 


flat surface. 




ciisp. 


groove. 




sapid. 


edge. 




aromatic, 
stimulating, 
agreeable to 
the taste. 






pulverable, 
or may be 
turned into 
powder, 
solid. 
If unroasted, dingy yellow, 
inodorous, 
without 
smell, 
disagreeable 
to the taste. 


Use.*— 'To make a 


beverage, or drink. 




T.ESSON XIV. 


A 


PAIR OF SCISSARS. 


Parts. 




Qualities. 


The limbs. 




It is steel. 


bows. 




bright. 


blades. 




reflective. 



LESSON XIV. 


SCISSARS. OL 


Parts, 


Qualities. 


shanks. 


It is hard. 


rivets, 
pivot, 
points, 
surfaces. 


opaque, 
cold, 
useful, 
solid. 




the blades are pointed, 
one surface flat. 




the other curved. 




front edge sharp, 
back blunt. 




bows are curved. 


Uses, — The children 


should name the kind 


of materials which scissars will cut, and point 


out the different manner in which knives and 


scissars cut. 





52 



THIRD SERIES. 



FAMILIAR OBJECTS. 





An Apple. An Acorn. 




A Pine Cone. A Laurel Leaf. 





An Oyster. A Butter-Cup. 



53 



THIRD SERIES. 



FAMILIAR OBJECTS. 





A Needle in use. 




A Quill. 



iliniiiiii 



A Piece of Honev-Comb. 





A Cent. A Watch-Glass. 

5* 



THIRD SERIES. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

In this series the children may be guided to 
the discovery of qualities which call into exercise 
the judgment in connexion with the senses. Thus 
by showing them at the same time an object in its 
natural and in its artificial state, as wool and 
woollen cloth, and questioning them as to the 
difference of the two, they will readily conceive 
the ideas of natural and artificial. In this manner 
they may be led to remark the distinction between 
foreign and native, exotic and indigenous, animal, 
vegetable, mineral, &;c. 

Having also been long exercised in observing 
and naming the qualities of objects, they may 
now be called upon to give an explanation of the 
terms they use, and by assisting them to trace 
their derivations, the teacher will add to the 
interest of the lesson. For the use of the in- 
structor a few explanations adapted to the capacities 
of children are given at the end of the Volume. 

LESSON I. 

A QUILL. 

Ideas to be developed by this lesson — natural^ 
artificial, animal, vegetable, animate, inanimate, 
A pen should be shown at the same time with 
the quill. Then the children being questioned 



LESSON I.-— A QUILL. 65 

as to what constitutes the essential difference 
between the two, will understand the terms natural 
and artificial. If some fruits or flowers are placed by 
the quill, their attention may be directed to the 
distinction between animal and vegetable sub- 
stances. The comparison of the quill with an 
insect, will elicit the ideas of animate and inani- 
mate. 

Parts. Qualities, 

As in a preceding lesson. It is long. 

stiff. 

useful. 

natural. 

inanimate. 

animal produc- 
tion. 
The barrel is transpa- 
rent. 

hard. 

elasticjor springy. 

bright. 

yellowish. 

cylindrical. 

hollow. 

light. 
The shaft is feathcredc 

white. 

stiff. 

hard. 

opaque. 

solid. 

angular 

grooved. 



56 THIRD SERIES. 

Children may be led to remark the difference 
which heat produces on animal and vegetable 
substances both in appearance and smell. 

The teacher now requires the class to give an 
explanation in their own words, of the terms they 
used. 

Teacher. " Useful." Give me examples of 
words of the same termination. 

Children. Careful, &;c. 

Teacher. What is the force of that termina- 
tion ? 

Children. It expresses the quality in a great 
degree. 

Teacher. What is the opposite of useful ? 

Children. Useless. 

Teacher. Give examples of this termination. 

Teacher. From what is natural derived ? 

Children. Nature. 

Teacher. From what is " inanimate" derived? 

Children. From in, which has the sense of 
not, and animate. 

Teacher. Animate is derived from anima, a 
Latin word, which signifies life. Transparent is 
derived from trans, through ; and pai'ens, appear- 
ing. Give other words derived from parens, ap- 
pearing. 

Children. Apparent, Apparition. 

Teacher. "Cylindrical." From what is it 
derived ? 

Children. From cylinder. 

Teacher. Cylinder is derived from the Greek 
xuXiv^w. (kulindo) I roll. 



LESSON II A CENT. 



57 



LESSON II. 



A CENT. 



Ideas to be developed in this lesson, mineral, 
metallic. 



Parts. 



Qualities. 



surfaces. 


It is round. 


edges. 


flat. 


impression. 


mineral. 


image. 


metallic. 


superscription. 


opaque. 


reverse. 


bright. 


date. 


copper. 




cold. 




reddish brown. 




fusible. 




hard. 




odorous. 




artificial.* 




useful. 




heavy. 




durable. 




uneven. 



Made from copper ore, the sulphur forced off 
by smelting. Stampt by a die which is caused to 
fall upon the coin with great violence. 



* The class should be led to remark, that though the work- 
manship is artificial, the substance is natural. 



5H THIRD SERIES. 

Remarks on words* 

" Mineral," from what derived ? Mine. 
« Metallic," Metal. 

"Fusible," to fuse. 

" Artificial," lat. Arte, by an 

art ; and lat. facere, to make. 
" Durable," lat. durare, to 

last. 

Teacher. Do you Jinovv any other words de- 
rived from durare ? 

Children. Duration, during, endure. 

LESSON III. 

MUSTARD SEED. 

Ideas to be developed by this lesson,— indigen- 
ous, pulverable. 

Qualities. 

It is pungent, 
dull, 
yellow, 
opaque, 
hard, 
dry. 

pulverable. 
natural, 
indigenous, 
vegetable, 
spherical, 
solid, 
stimulating. 



LESSON IV. AN ATPLE. 



59 



Remarks on Words. _ 

"Pungent," from what derived? Lat. pungere, to 

prick. 
" Pulverable," from Lat. piihis, dust. 
" Indigenous," from the Latin indigena, native, or 

produced in a country. 



LESSON IV. 


AN 


APPLE. 


Parts. 


Qualities. 


The eye. 


It is spherical. 


core. 


bright. 


pips, or seeds. 


odorous. 


peel. 


colored. 


pulp. 


opaque. 


juice. 


natural. 


stalk. 


vegetable. 


surface. 


juicy. 


inside. 


hard. 


outside. 


nice. 




solid. 




pleasant. 




The eye is dry. 




brown. 




shrivelled. 


The pips or seeds 


arc brown on the outside 




when ripe. 




- white in the inside. 




pointed oval. - 




hard. 




bright. 



60 THIRD SERIES. 

The core is thin, 
stiff, 
yellow. 
♦ hard. 

semi-transparent. 

cellular, or divided into cells. 

Remarks on Words, 

"Spherical," from what derived? Sphere. 

Teacher. Give instances of similar termina- 
tions ? 

Children. Cylindrical, critical, conical. 

"Odorous," from what derived? Lat. odor, 
scent. 

Teacher. Give instances of similar termina- 
tions ? 

Children. Porous, numerous. 

" Vegetable," from what derived ? Lat. vege- 
tare, to grow as a plant. 

Teacher. Name other words derived from this? 

Children. To vegetate, vegetation. 

" Juicy," from what derived? Juice. 

Teacher. Give some other instances in which 
the names of qualities are derived from those of 
substances in a similar manner ? 

Children. Stone, stony ; milk, milky ; water, 
watery. 

" Semi-transparent," from what derived? Semi, 
trans, through, and parens, appearing. 

Teacher. What is the meaning of semi 7 

Children. Half. 



LESSON V. VI. GLASS OF A WATCH, SUGAR. 61 

LESSON V. 

GLASS OF A WATCH. 

Ideas to be developed by this lesson, — concave^ 
and convex. 

Parts,* Qualities, 

It is artificial. 

transparent. 

brittle, 

bright. 

thin. 

hard. 

clear. 

cold. 

curved. 

useful. 
Upper surface convex. 
Under surface concave. 
Edge circular. 
Uses. — To preserve the hands of the watch from 
being injured, and to keep the works from dust. 

LESSON VI. 

BROWN SUGAR. 

Ideas to be developed, foreign, imported. 
Qualities. 
It is brown, 
granulous. 

* The children should be asked whether there are any 
parts to this object peculiar to it ; and as there are not, the 
consideration of the parts had barter be omitted. 
6 



C2 THIRD SERIES. 

It is sweet, 
soluble, 
fusible, 
opaque, 
useful. 

vegetable substance, 
artificial, 
foreign. 
sticky. 
imported, 
moist. 

Use. — To sweeten our food. 

Obtained from the Sugar Cane, which is culti- 
vated in the East and West Indies, and in the 
Southern States. 

Remarks upon Words. 

" Granulous," derived from ' granule, a small 
grain. 

" Imported," Latin portare, to carry, and in, into. 

" Exported," from ex, out, and portare., 

" Soluble," from Lat. solvere, to loosen, because 
the particjes may be loosened from each other by 
liquids. 





LESSON VII. 




AN ACORN. 


Parts. 


Qualities. 


The cup. 
berry, 
stalk. 


It is vegetable, 
inanimate, 
natural. 



LESSON VIII. HONEYCOMB. 



63 



Parts* 
The point of the nut 
scar, 
scales, 
inside, 
outside, 
surfaces. 



Qualities. 
hard, 
green, 
opaque, 
nut is oval, 
bright, 
solid, 
cup is brown, 
the inside is concave, 
smooth. 
the outside is rough. 

brownish, 
scaly. 
the edge is circular. 



LESSON VIII. 



A PIECE OF H0NEYC03IB. 



Parts. 

Cells, 
divisions. 



bottom, or base of cells, 
corners. 



Qualities. 

It is natural. 

animal production. 

light. 

fusible. 

sticky. 

semi-transparent. 

yellowish. 

thin. 

compressible, 
cells hexagonal, or six- 
cornered. 

regular. 

hollow. 



64 THIRD 6ERIES. 

LESSON IX. 

REFINED SUGAR. 

Ideas to be developed by this lesson, are crys- 
talline, amorphous. 

Parts. Qualities* 

The surfaces. It is white, 

edges. sweet, 

middle. sparkling, 

crystals. crystalline, 

grains. solid, 

pores. fusible, 

soluble. 

shapeless or amorphous, 
hard, 
refined, 
nutritious, 
useful, 
friable, 
opaque, 
artificial, 
vegetable, 
briltle. 
Brought from the Indies in its raw state. Re- 
fined by sugar-bakers, and sold by grocers in loaves 
of a conical form. 

Remarks on Words. 
" Crystalline," derived from crystal. 
" Amorphous," Greek a (a) not, and fjioptp*} 
(morphe) shape. 

" Nutritious," Lat. mitrio, I nourish. 



LESSON X. A BUTTER CUP. 65 

LESSON X 

BUTTER CUP. 

Parts. Qualities* 

Petals. It is vegetable. 

margins or edges. inanimate. 

cup. * concave. 

leafits" of cup. natural. 

stamens. odorous. 

pistils. petals are yellow. 

stalk. glossy in the inside. 

place of insertion. dull on the outside. 

inside. circular. 

outside. pointed at the place 

surfaces. of insertion. 

striped. 

opaque. 

pliable. 
Leafits greenish. 

thin. 

membranaceous. 

semi-transparent. 

pointed. 
Stalk green. 

grooved. 

angular. 

stiff. 

fibrous. 

6* 



66 THIRD SERIES. 



LESSON XI. 



LADY BIRD. 

Parts, Qualities* 

The Head. It is animate. 

eyes. natural, 

feelers or palpi. hemispherical, 
horns or antennae, elytra are red. 

wings. ^ spotted, 

wing cases or elytra. bright. 



thorax. 


hard. 


legs. 


brittle. ' 


body. 


opaque. 


back. 


stiff. 


spots. 


outside convex. 


surfaces. 


inside concave. 


margin. 


one margin straight. 


claws. 


the other curved. 




the wings are membraneous. 




pliable. 




thin. 




transparent. 




fragile. 




the body oval. 




black. 




the legs are jointed. 




short. 




black. 



LESSON XII. — AN OYSTER. 67 





LESSON XII. 




AN OYSTER. 


Parts. 


Qualities* 


The valves. 


It is animal. 


hinge. 


opaque. 


outside. 


marine. 


inside. 


natural. 


margin. 


valves circular. 


impressions. hard. 


mollusca, 


, the living part, stiff. 


scales or 


laminae. pulverable. 




outsides rough. 




scaly or laminated. 




irregular. 




dull. 




dingy brown. 




uneven. 




inside pearly. 




bright. 




smooth. 




slightly concave. 




cold. 




mollusca soft. 




edible. 




nutritious. 




cold. 




smooth. 




lubricious. 



6B THIRD SERIES. 

LESSON XIII. 

A FIR OR PINE CONE. 

Parts. Qualities. 



Scales* 


It is brown. 


seeds* 


opaque. 


top. 


hard. 


place of insertion. vegetable. 


fibres* 


natural. 


outside. 


conical. 


inside. 


inflammable. 


surfaces. 


odorous. 


stalk. 


scales hard. 




outside brown. 




pointed at the top. 




rouMi. 


inside of scales chestnut-color. 




shaded. 




LESSON XIV. 




FUR. 


Parts. 


Qualities. 


Hair 


It is animal. 


surface. 


hairy. 


points of hair. 


inanimate. 



hairs flexible, 
slender, 
soft, 
straight, 
pointed. 
The color and other peculiarities io be decided 
by the specimen presented. 



LESSON XV. XVI. — A LEAF, A NEEDLE. 



69 





LESSON XV. 


A LAUREL LEAF. 


Parts, 


Qualities, 


upper surface. 


Upper surface bright 


under surface. 


under surface dull. 


edge or margin. 


oval. 


point or termination. smooth. 


veins. 


pointed. 


middle rib. 


vegetable. 


base. 


odorous. 


stalk. 


opaque. 




bitter. 




stiff. 




slightly toothed. 




long. 




margin curved. 




rib straight. 




raised, or keeled on 




the under side. 




grooved on the upper 




side. 




veins curved. 




T.F.SSON XVI. 




A NEEDLE. 


Parts. 


Qualities. 


The eye. 


It is mineral. 


shank 


:. metallic. 


point. 


artificial. 



70 



THIED 


SERIES. 


The middle, 
top. 


It is opaque, 
bright. 
cold. 




taper. 

pointed. 

slender. 




useful. 




fusible. 




gray or steel color, 
hard. 




brittle. 




solid. 




steel. 



Made of steel, which is a preparation of iron, 
having been subject to great extremes of heat and 
cold. 



LESSON XVII. 

A STONE. 

Idea to be developed^—inorganized. 

To give the class an idea of " organized" and 
" inorganized," a plant might be shown with the 
stone ; and similar questions to the following 
given. 

Teacher. If I put these two into the earth, 
and visit them in a month, what great difference 
should I perceive in them ? 

Children. The plant will have grown ; the 
stone will have remained the same size. 

Teacher. Hov/ did the plant increase ? 

Children. It absorbed moisture. 

Teacher, By what means ? 



LESSON XVII. A STONE. 71 

Children. Through its roots and pores. 

Teacher. Did this nourish only the roots and 
pores 1 

Children. No. 

Teacher. You are right; the sap was pro- 
duced, which circulated through the plant by 
means of vessels. You remember why we called 
the eyes, ears, &;c. organs ? 

Children. They are natural instruments, by 
which something is effected. 

Teacher. What would you therefore call the 
pores, vessels, &c. of vegetables ? 

Children. They are organs. 

Teacher. A body possessing organs is called 
organized : name some organized bodies. 

Children. A tree, an insect. 

Teacher. What syllable, placed before a word, 
expresses the absence of a quality ? 

Children. In, 

Teacher. What would you call a body which 
is destitute of organs ? 

Children. InGrganized. 

Teacher. Mention some inorganized sub- 
stances. 

Children. Earth, water. 

Qualities of Stone. 

It is hard, 
cold. 

inorganized. 
opaque, 
mineral, 
solid. 
naturaL 



72 THIRD SERIES. 



It is shapeless or amorphous, 
inanimate. 



Remarks on Words. 



" Inorganized," derived from Greek o^yavov 
(organon) an instrument. 



FOURTH SERIES. 



SPICES, (GROWING.) 



73 




The Cinnamon, 

7 



74 



FOURTH SERIES. 



SPICES, (GROWING.) 




Nutmeg". 




Pepper. 



FOURTH SERIES. 



BEER. 




Beer is extensively manufactured in most of 
our great cities and towns. Ale and Porter, which 
are manufactured from nearly the same materials, 
are very much used in all parts of our country ; 
and the use of malt liquors will probably increase 
in proportion as ardent spirits are laid aside. 



FOURTH SERIES. 



OIL. 




The oil used for lamps is generally obtained 
from the whale; although the oil of other animals 
IS sometimes used for this purpose. The hardy 
whalemen of Nantucket and New Bedford pene- 
trate the remotest parts of the Pacific Ocean in 
search of whales, and encounter a great variety 
of dangersj and " hair-breadth escapes" in cap- 
turing them. 



FOURTH SERIES. 



INK. 




How little are we accustomed to reflect- on the 
utility of this liquid ! Ink is indeed a necessary 
article in civilized life, inasmuch as it is made the 
means of preserving nearly all that we hold valu- 
able. Could all the ink at present on paper be 
instantly annihilated, the world would be thrown 
into a state of confusion more terrible than was 
ever occasioned by war, famine, or pestilence. 
7* 



IS 



FOURTH SERIES. 



MILK. 




Milk is one of the most useful of all articles 
of food. It is our chief nourishment in infancy 
and debility ; and it is used in the composition 
of some of the most grateful aliments with which 
our tables are furnished. — -The possession of a 
cow has often saved a poor family from utter fa- 
mine. We should look upon the gentle and harm- 
less animal to whom we are indebted for this ar- 
ticle of food, as one of the real benefactors of 
man. 



FOURTH SERIES. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

The chief aim proposed in this series is, to ex- 
ercise the children in arranging- and classifying 
objects; thus developing a higher faculty than 
that of simply observing their qualities. The 
complex operation of connecting things by their 
points of resemblance, at the same time individu- 
ally distinguishing them by their points of dis- 
similarity, is one of the highest exercises of our 
reason. Yet this habit may be cultivated in chil- . 
dren much more early than is usually imagined, 
by training them to arrange their ideas. With 
this view the spices have been chosen as forming 
a connected series of objects. The metals, 
liquids, different kinds of wood, grains, &;c. are 
good subjects for similar lessons. 

The children may now be led to consider more 
fully the senses themselves, having already de- 
termined by which of them they discover the pres- 
ence of any quality. The first lesson is drawn 
out for the use of the teacher, the substance only 
of the others is given. 

Teacher. Do you understand how you gained 
the knowledge of various qualities? 

Childhen. Bv our senses. 



80 FOURTH SERIES. 

Teacher. How do you know when a thing is 
red or blue? 

Children. By sight. 

Teacher. If you were blind, could you form 
a correct idea of color ? Is there any other means 
of gaining this knowledge ? 

Children. No. 

Teacher. True ; and to ascertain this point, a 
blind person was once questioned as to what no- 
tion he had of scarlet : he said he thought that it 
must be like the sound of a trumpet. It is obvi- 
ous he had no correct idea of a quality discovera- 
ble by the sight, and he could only compare it 
with one that he had acquired through the medium 
of another sense. Can you tell me the reason why 
persons born deaf cannot speak ? 

Children. They cannot imitate sounds, be- 
cause they never heard any. 

Teacher. Since then deaf persons have no 
correct ideas of sound, nor blind persons of color, 
how did we acquire them? 

Children. By means of the senses of seeing 
and hearing. 

Teacher. How then do you suppose our 
minds become stored with ideas ? 

Children. ' By the exercise of our senses.'* 

Teacher. I think we may compare the mind 
of an infant in some respects to an empty box ca- 
pable of containing many things, and into this the 
different senses empty the treasures which they 
collect from the objects upon which they act. 



* It is probable that children would not at once arrive at 
this conclusion ; the Teacher must in that case lead them to 
it by easy questions. 



-FEELING OR TOUCH. 



81 



But you must not suppose that these materials 
remain there unemployed ; the mind works upon 
them* Thus if you have once had the idea of a 
dog- formed in your mind, by seeing such an ani- 
mal, when a dog is mentioned you can recall the 
idea, and fancy one immediately^ as if it were 
present ; your mind will also perform the same 
operation when a quality is spoken of which you 
had previously seen in some object. Again, if 
you see a dog unlike any you have observed be- 
fore, you compare it with the species with which 
you are acquainted, and mark the difference be- 
tween them. If I say that I have some green 
paper, cannot you at once imagine the color of 
which 1 speak ? 
Children. Yes. 

Did you then exercise your sight? 
No. 
How then could you have the idea 



Teacher. 

Children. 

Teacher. 
of green ? 

Children. 

Teacher. 
the idea? 

Children. By seeing something green. 

Teacher. And what retained it in your minds ? 

Children. Our memory. 

Teacher. We will now consider each sense 
separately. 



It was in our minds. 
By what means did you first obtain 



LESSON I. 

feeling or touch. 

Teacher. What part of your body is the or- 
gan of this sense ? 



82 FOURTH SERIES. 

Children. Tt seems all over our body. 

Teacher. Do you not find some parts that do 
not possess the sense of feeling? 

Children. Yes, our hairs, nails, teeth. 

Teacher. And in other animals what parts 
are found destitute of sensation 1 

Children. The hoofs, horns, claws, feathers, 
wool, hair, &c. 

Teacher. What word would you use to ex- 
press the absence of sensation? What syllable 
prefixed to a word gives it a negative meaning ? 

Children. In. 

Teacher. Well, what word will express the 
absence of sensation? 

Children. Insensibility. 

Teacher. The parts then you have named 
are insensible, and with the exception of these, 
the sense of feeling exists everywhere throughout 
the body. Tell me what qualities we can discover 
in objects by this sense. 

Children. That they are hard, soft, rough, 
smooth, long, short, sharp, blunt, round, square, 
cylindrical, conical, heavy, light, fluid, liquid, dry, 
wet, hot, cold, &:c. 

Teacher. By what general term would you 
express such qualities as round, square, coni- 
cal, &;c. ? 

Children. By shape. 

Teacher. By what general term would you 
express such qualities as large, small, &;c. ? 

Children. By size. 

Teacher. By what general term would you 
express such qualities as rough, smooth, &c. 1 

Children. By kind of surface. 

Teacher. By what general term would you 



LESSON I. FEELING OR TOUCH. 83 

express such qualities as hard, soft, fluid, tena- 
cious, &c. ? 

Children. By kind of substance. 

Teacher. By what general term would you 
express such qualities as heavyj light, &c. ? 

Children. By weighlf 

Teacher. Now arrange the qualities which 
you discover by your Feeling, under these five 
general heads of shape, size, kind of surface, kind 
of substance, weight. 

The children having performed this part, the 
Teacher may mention the following facts. 

Teacher. The quickness and accuracy of this 
sense of Feeling, is, we find, much increased by 
exercise. This is exemplified in blind persons ; 
many of whom are enabled, in a great measure, to 
compensate their defect of sight by an exquisite 
sensitiveness of touch. Bats also appear to pos- 
sess this in a remarkable degree. They have 
been observed, even after the loss of sight, and 
with their ears and nostrils stopt up, to fly through 
intricate windings and passages without striking 
against the walls, and also to avoid lines and cords 
placed in their way. The expanded membrane 
that serves them for wings is probably the seat 
of this delicate sense of feeling ; it fits them for 
nocturnal and dark abodes. The palpi or feelers 
of insects possess the same quality very acutely, 
and this enables them to explore the surfaces of 
bodies in search of food, and warns them also of 
the approach of danger. 

The class should be required, at the conclusion 
of the lesson, to draw up some account of this 
Bense, mentioning where it resides, what qualities 



84 FOURTH SERIES. 

fall within its cognizance, and to recapitulate any 
incidental information received during the lesson. 



LESSON II. 



The eyes are the organs of sight, and are 
beautifully adapted for the office which they have 
to perform. They are so constructed as to allow 
us to see things at a distance, or near ; to confine 
ourselves to the inspection of one object, or to 
take at once a large sphere of vision. The part 
of the eye which admits the light may be ex- 
panded or contracted, according as the rays are 
more or less powerful. This is remarkably ex- 
emplified in the eyes of the cat and of the owl. 
Indeed nothing affords a more striking proof of the 
kind providence of God than the peculiar forma- 
tion of the eyes of different animals, each exactly 
suited to their peculiar modes of life ; those of 
moles, fishes, and birds, are remarkable illustra- 
tions of this fact.* 

Of all the senses, that of sight is in most fre- 
quent and continual exercise. It fills the mind 
with the greatest variety of ideas, which it gathers 
both from the works of nature, and the writings 
of the wise and good of all ages. 

The qualities we discover by this sense are : 
transparent, semi-transparent, translucent, opaque, 
glimmering, bright, dark, sparkling, dull, and the 

* The Teacher should here fully explain to the class the 
circumstances referred lo, and give other similar instances. 



LESSON III. HEARING. 85 

Vt dous modifications, of color, size, and shape. 
Many may be ascertained either by touch or 
sight ; as those of size, form, kind of surface, and 
substance. 



LESSON III. 

HEARING. 

The ears are the organs of this sense ; in many 
animals the external form is that of a trumpet, 
which is best adapted for gathering the sound, and 
bringing it to a focus ; in man it contains many 
convolutions and channels which receive the vibra- 
tions of air in every direction, and convey them to 
the drum of the ear which is the actual seat of this 
sense. 

The formation of the ears of animals is beau- 
tifully accommodated to their peculiar habits of 
life. In beasts of prey the trumpet part is in- 
clined forwards, easily to catch the sounds of those 
they are pursuing. But in those animals whose 
chief means of protection is ffight, these organs 
are turned backwards, that they may be readily 
apprized of the approach of their enemies. 

The ears are the medium through which all 
sensations of sound reach the mind : without them 
we should be deprived of the advantages of verbal 
instruction, the pleasures of conversation, and the 
charms of music. 

The motion of the parts of a body, or the col- 
lision of one body against another, occasions a vi- 
bration in the air which is similar to the effect 
produced on water when a stone is thrown into it 
Circle succeeds circle till the power of motion is 



86 FOURTH SERIES. 

exhausted : and just as any light substance within 
the influence of these undulations is agitated by 
them, so when our ear is within reach of these 
vibrations of air, the sensation of sound is produ- 
ced.* The chirping noise of the cricket is occa- 
sioned simply by the constant friction of a little 
membrane against its wings. When two bodies 
are rubbed or struck together, we are in many 
cases able to determine, by the sounds emitted, 
the nature of the substances brought into contact. 
Different sounds are occasioned by the collision 
of metals and that of wood, the sound produced 
from hollow bodies from that resulting from solid 
ones. There are various kinds of sounds ; as 
shrill, deep, grating, harsh, loud, soft, harmonious, 
sweet. Animals produce different sounds. The 
cat mews, the dog barks, the lion roars, the ass 
brays, the cow lows, the horse neighs, the rook 
caws, the goose cackles, the cock crows, the fly 
buzzes, the bee hums. Man speaks, laughs, cries, 
shouts, groans, whistles, sings. 

LESSON IV. 

SMELL. 

The nose is the organ of this sense ; its cavi- 
ties are lined with a thin membrane which is sup- 
plied with nerves connected with a principal one 
which is essential to the perception of smell. 



* This account may appear, at the first sight, above the 
comprehension of children: a class, however, which had 
gone through the preceding exercises, was found fully capable 
of understanding it. 



LESSON V. TASTE. 87 

From this source we derive all our ideas of 
odor. Though not so important to man as the 
other senses, yet it adds much to his pleasure ; 
and to many animals it is essential, directing them 
in the search of their food. The scent of dogs is 
peculiarly fine, and on this account they are em- 
ployed in the chase. 

Odor is produced by exceedingly small parti- 
cles called effluvia, which escape from odorous 
bodies ; these diffuse themselves in the atmo- 
sphere, and whenever they reach the olfactory 
nerves, they occasion the sensation of smell. 
Heat promotes the escape of these particles, which 
are of a volatile nature ; hence when the sun 
shines brightly, vegetation scents the air with its 
fragrance. 

LESSON V. 

TASTE. 

The mouth is the organ of taste.- The skin 
within the mouth is fine and more delicate than 
that of the rest of the body : it is supplied with a 
great number of blood vessels, and covered with 
innumerable papillas, or small protuberances. 
Sapid bodies, or bodies which have a flavor, 
however, before they excite the sensation of taste, 
require to be moistened by the saliva. In grass- 
eating animals, the papillae are defended from the 
action of the stiff bristles of grass and corn by a 
strong skin, which being full of holes, allows the 
dissolved juice to reach the seat of taste. The 
principal qualities discoverable by the taste are 
bitter, sweet, acid, pungent, acrid, luscious. 



88 FOURTH SERIES. 

There are many others which derive their names 
from the suhstances in which they exist. 

Many of the animals have some one of the 
senses in greater perfection than man has, hut 
there is no animal in which they all occur in the 
same degree. 



SPICES. 

LESSON VI. 

PEPPER. 

Qualities of Pepper. 

It is hard. 

vegetable. 

foreign.* 

tropical production. 

wrinkled. 

spherical. 

rough. 

black. 



* Teacher. If it come from a foreign country, how do 
we get it ? 

Children. It comes in a ship. 

Teacher. This is called importing ; and sending out of 
our own country is called exporting. What do we call th* 
exchange of productions ? 

Children. Trade or corimerce. 

Teacher. And what are the people called who carry il 
on? 

Children. Merchants. 



LESSON VII. NUTMEG. 89 

It is conservative, or fit to preserve things, 
dry. 
dull, 
sapid, 
pungent, 
odorous, 
aromatic, 
medicinal, 
wholesome, 
useful, 
stimulating. 

The pepper plant is a creeping shrub requiring 
support, and is therefore generally planted near 
some thorny bush, among the branches of which 
it creeps like ivy. It produces berries, which 
gBow in clusters: they are first green, become 
red as they ripen, and black when dried. It 
grows in the countries which lie between the 
tropics. 

LESSON VII. 

NUTMEG. 

Qualities. 

It is sapid. 

hard. 

oval. 

dingy brown 

dull. 

opaque. 

dry. 
Surface uneven. 
It is vegetable. 



00 FOURTH SERIES. 

It is natural, 
inanimate, 
foreign. 

tropical production, 
pungent, 
conservative, 
pulverable. 
^ agreeable flavor, 

aromatic, 
odorous. 

Nutmegs are the kernels of a fruit growing in 
several islands in the East Indies ; they are sur- 
rounded by the spice called mace, and externally 
by a husk, about half an inch in thickness. When 
the fruit is ripe, the husk opens at the end, and 
displays a network of scarlet mace. After the 
mace is carefuly stripped off, there still remains 
a woody shell, which surrounds the nutmeg. 
The husks are taken oft' in the woods ; and the 
mace carefully removed with a knife. The nuts 
are first dried in the sun, and then placed on a 
frame of bamboos over a slow fire, until the ker- 
nels, on being shaken, rattle in their shells. 

Remarks on ivords. 

" Odorous," " aromatic." 

Teacher. Why is nutmeg said to be odorous? 

Children. Because it has a smell. 

Teacher. Why aromatic ? 

Children. Because it has that pungent smell 
distinguished by the name aromatic. 

Teacher. Are all things that are aromatic also 
odorous? 



LESSON VIII. MACE. 91 

Children. Yes. 

Teacher. Are all things that are odorous also 
aromatic ? 

Children. No. 

Teacher. Is an onion odorous? 

Children. Yes. 

Teacher. Is a rose odorous? 

Children. Yes. , 

Teacher. Are these smells alike? 

Children. No. 

Teacher. Does the term odorous include every 
kind of smell ? 

Children. Yes. 

Teacher. A term which includes all the va- 
rieties of one kind of quality or substance, is 
called a generic term, whilst that which marks 
one of the species is called a specific term. 
Thus in natural history, the term dog stands for 
the genus, and Spaniel is a species of that genus. 

Give examples of generic terms, and of a spe- 
cific term applicable to each of them. 

Children. Odorous, fragrant — colored, red — 
foreign, Chinese productions. 

The class should determine in succeeding les- 
sons what terms are generic, and what specific. 



LESSON VIII. 

MACE. 

Qualities. 
It is pungent. 



agreeable flavor, 
aromatic. 



92 FOURTH SERIES. 

It is orange color, 
dull, 
ogaque. 
thin, 
fibrous, 
brittle, 
foreign, 
tropical, 
natural, 
inflammable, 
medicinal, 
dry. 

pulverable. 
membranaceous, or composed of 

membranes, 
conservative. 
, imported, 

sapid, 
stimulating. 

Mace is the covering between the shell of the 
nutmeg and its external husk. 



Remarks oh Words* 

Teacher. " Foreign." Should you call mace 
a foreign production, if you were in the place of 
its growth ? 

Children. No. 

Teacher. Should you call it pungent and aro- 
matic, if you were there ? 

Children. Yes. 

Teacher. Can it be mace without being for- 
eign'? 



i 



Children. Yell 



XESSON IX. CINNAMON. 93 

Teacher. Can it be mace without being pun- 
gent and aromatic ? 

Children. No. 

Those qualities which determine any thing to 
be what it is, are called essential, from the Latin 
esse, to be. 

Qualities which are not essential are called 
accidental. 

What qualities of mace are essential? 

What qualities of mace are accidental ? 



LESSON IX. 

CINNAMON. 

Qualities. 

It is light brown, and gives name to a color, 
thin, 
brittle, 
conservative, 
aromatic, 
pungent, 
agreeable flavor, 
opaque, 
hard, 
sweet. 

inflammable, 
dry. 

vegetable, 
natural, 
foreign, 
inanimate, 
light. 



94 FOURTH SERIES. 

It is pulverable. 

medicinal. 

stimulating. 
Cinnamon is the under bark of the branches of 
a tree of the laurel tribe, growing in Ceylon and 
Malabar. The branches of three years old 
furnish the best cinnamon. The outside bark is 
scraped off; the branches are then ripped up 
lengthways with a knife, and the bark is gradually 
loosened till it can be entirely taken off. It is 
then exposed to the sun, which has the effect of 
curling it up. The pieces of bark so curled are 
called quills, and the smaller ones are inserted 
into the larger. 

Remarhs on Words* 

" Inflammable" is derived from Latin Jlamma, 
a flame. 

Medicinal from medicine. 



LESSON X. 

GINGER. 

Qualities. 

It is fibrous, 
knotty 
sapid, 
rough, 
jagged, 
inanimate, 
vegetable, 
tropical. 



LESSON XI. ALLSPICE. 95 

It is foreign. 

aromatic. 

pungent. 

dry. 

dull. 

solid. 

hard. 

conservative. 

light. 

yellowish brown. 

pulverable. 

medicinal. 

stimulating. 

wholesome. 

opaque. 

inflammable. 
Ginger is the root of a plant resembling a reed, 
which grows both in the East and West Indies. 
The root does not strike to a considerable depth, 
but spreads wide. When first dug up it is soft, 
and eaten by the Indians as a salad. That in- 
tended for exportation is placed in bundles, to be 
dried in the sun. 





LESSON XI. 






ALLSPICE. 




Parts, 


Qualiti 


es. 


The inside. It is aromatic, 
outside. odorous, 
skin. pungent, 
seeds. spherical, 
partition of seed-vessel. brown, 
point of insertion. speckled, 



96 FOURTH SERIES. 

organized. 

natural. 

vegetable. 

inanimate. 

dry. 

opaque.- 

tropical. 

imported. 

dull. 

stimulating. 

hard. 

inflammable. 

friable. 

sapid. 

wrinkled. 

conservative. 
Allspice or Pimento is the dried berry of a spe- 
cies of myrtle indigenous in the West Indies ; it 
is a most beautiful and fragrant tree, producing 
numerous bunches of white flowers, to which suc- 
ceed the berries ; these are gathered by the hand 
and spread out in the sun to dry. In this opera- 
tion they lose their former color and become 
brown. When the seeds rattle in the shell they 
are known to be sufficiently dry, and are packed 
in bags for exportation. Pimento is considered 
in its flavor to unite that of several other spicef>^ 
and has thence been called allspice. 

LESSON XII. 

CLOVES. 

Parts^ Qualities, 

The calyx or cup. It is aromatic, 
tube. odorous. 



LESSON XII. CLOVES. 



fj7 



leafits of cup. 
points of leafits 
bud. 
surfaces. 




pungent, 
brown, 
organized, 
natural. 


edges. 






vegetable. 

inanimate. 

dry. 

opaque. 

tropical. 

imported. 

dull. 

stimulating. 

hard. 

inflammable. 

conservative. 






bud 

tube 

leafits 


I spherical. 
! long. 
5 pointed. 



Cloves are the unexpanded flower-buds and 
calyx of a species of laurel which grows in the 
West Indies. At a certain season of the year, the 
clove-tree produces a profusion of flowers in 
clusters : they are gathered before the flower 
opens, when the four points of the calyx project, 
and the petals are folded one over the other, 
forming a bud about the size of a pea. After they 
are gathered they are exposed for some time to 
the smoke of a wood fire, and then to the rays of 
the sun. 

At the conclusion of the lessons on the spices, 

the children should be called upon to mention 

those qualities which they had found common to 

all ; as aromatic, pungent, dry, tropical, stimulat- 

9 



98 FOURTH SERIES. 

ing, vegetable. Then let some other similar sub 
stance be presented to them as mustard. 

Teacher. Is this a spice ? 

Children. No. 

Teacher. Why not ? 

Children. It has not the qualities of a spice ? 

Teacher. If I showed you a substance with 
which you were not previously acquainted, and 
you found that it possessed the essential qualities 
of the spices you have examined, what would you 
consider it to be 1 

Children. A spice. 

Teacher. To what then do you apply the 
term spice ? 

Children. To a set of natural productions 
possessing certain qualities. 

Teacher. When a number of things are 
arranged together, each having similar qualities, 
what would you call the collection ? What would 
you call a number of boys who are placed to- 
gether because they are nearly equal in know- 
ledge 7 

Children. A class. 

Teacher. What then may you call a collec- 
tion of substances that possess the same qualities? 

Children. A class. 

Teacher. What may you call all substances 
which are aromatic, pungent, tropical, dec. ? 

Children. A class. 

Teacher. And what is the name of that class? 

Children. Spice. 

Teacher. What then does the term spice 
express ? 

Children. A class of substances possessing 
the qualities aromatic, pungent, &c. 



LESSON XIII. WATER. 99 

Teacher. Tell me all the substances belong- 
ing to that class. 

Children. Pepper, nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, 
ginger, allspice, cloves. ^ 

Teacher. Are all the substances of this class 
alike in all respects? 

Children. No. 

Teacher. How can you tell one spice from 
another ? 

Children. They all differ in some particular. 

Teacher. Name the particular circumstance 
which distinguishes each. 

Children. Ginger is a root ; pepper is a 
berry; nutmeg is a kernel; mace is the mem- 
branaceous covering of that kernel ; cinnamon is 
a bark ; pimento is a seed-vessel ; clove is a cup 
and flower-bud. 



ON LIQUIDS. 

Idea to be developed, incompressible. 

LESSON XIII. 

WATER. 

Qualities of Water, 

It is fluid. 

transparent, 
clear, 
colorless, 
liquid. 



100 FOURTH SERIES^ 

It is useful, 
bright. 

incompressible, 
reflective, 
drinkable, 
wholesome, 
tasteless, 
cold. 

inodorous, 
natural, 
solvent, 
refreshing, 
inanimate, 
penetrating, 
purifying, 
cooling, 
fertilizing, 
heavy, 
some waters medicinal. 

Different kinds of Water. 

rain. 

spring. 

sea or salt. 

river. 

medicinal. 

hot springs. 

stagnant. 

Different States of Water. 



ice. 

snow. 

hail. 



LESSON XIV. OIL. 101 

rain. 

mist. 

fogs. 

cloud. 

vapor. 

dew. 

steam. 

Natural Collecticms of Water, 

Ocean. 

sea. 

lake. 

rivers. 

ponds. 

springs. 

Operations of Water.' — It purifies, evaporates, 
freezes, quenches thirst, cools, finds its own level, 
penetrates, fertilizes, is a solvent, ebbs, flows, 
extinguishes fire, separates easily into parts which 
assume a spherical form. 



LESSON XIV. 

OIL. 

Qualities of Oil. 

It is fluid. 

yellowish. 

semi-transparent. 

soft. 

liquid. 

penetrating. 

emollient, or softening. 
9* 



102 FOURTH SERIES. 

It is greasy, 
useful, 
light, 
thick. 

inflammable. 
Some oils are vegetable. 
Some are animal. 
When bad, rancid. x 

odorous. 

The vegetable oil is expressed or pressed out 
from olives, and comes chiefly from Italy and the 
south of France. It is also expressed from nuts 
and other fruits and seeds. 

The animal oil comes from the whale and seal, 
and is contained in the blubber or fat. Birds are 
furnished with little bags of oil ; this they apply 
to their feathers, and the wet trickles off". This 
provision is very important to those birds which 
are much in the water, preventing it from pene- 
trating their feathers, and thus keeping them 
lighter than the element in which they reside. 

Remarks on Words* 
"Emollient," derived from Lat. mollisy soft. 



LESSON XV. 



Qualities, 



It is liquid, 
fluid. 



LESSON XV. BEER. 103 

It is orange color, 
fermented, 
artificial, 
useful. 

vegetable production, 
odorous. 

semi-transparent, 
slightly intoxicating. 

Beer is composed of malt, hops, and water 
boiled together. Hops are the blossoms of a 
creeping plant, very much cultivated in Kent : 
the place where it grows is called a hop-yard. 
The tub in which the malt is first steeped is 
called a mashing-tub ; that which holds the beer 
when jnade, a vat. 

Malt is made of barley by the following pro- 
cess. A quantity of barley is soaked in water 
for two or three days ; the water being afterwards 
drained off", the grain heats spontaneously, swells, 
bursts, becomes sweet, and is in a state of fer- 
mentation. Vegetables, in the process of decom= 
position, undergo several degrees of fermenta- 
tion ; the first — that above described — is called 
the saccharine fermentation, from the sweetness 
it produces. In consequence of this decompo- 
sition, which is similar to that which takes place 
in seed in the ground, the barley begins to 
sprout, but this vegetation is stopped by putting 
it into a kiln, where it is well dried by a gentle 
heat. 



104 FOURTH SERIES. 

LESSON XVI. 

VINEGAR. 

Qualities. 

It is acid. 

orange brown color. 

liquid. 

fluid. 

yielding to the touch. 

penetrating. 

stimulating. 

vegetable. 

solid, as occupying space. 

artificial. 

medicinal. 

odorous. 

useful. 

conservative. 

semi-transparent. 

Uses. — ^To flavor food ; for pickling ; for medi- 
cine. 

.It is called "Vinegar, from the French, Vinai- 
gre. Fiw, wine — aigre, sour ; because it is fre- 
quently procured from wine. The fermentation 
by which this acidity is produced, is called the 
acetous fermentation, from Lat. acetum, vinegar. 



LESSON XVII. WINE. 1 05 

LESSON XVII. 

FOREIGN WHITE WINE. 

Qualities. 

It is yellowish, 
bright, 
fluid, 
liquid, 
fermented, 
spirituous, 
intoxicating, 
heating, 
vegetable, 
artificial, 
semi-transparent, 
sapid, 
medicinal, 
stimulating, 
clear. 

strengthening, 
solid, occupying a space, 
.yielding to the touch. 

Wine is made from the grape, the fruit of the 
vine, which is cultivated in Vineyards. The 
season of its gathering is called the Vintage. The 
grapes, when gathered, are placed in a wine- 
press, by which the juice is expressed : this juice 
undergoes a fermentation, and becomes wine. 
This, which is the second fermentation vegetable 
matter undergoes, is called the vinous fermenta- 
tion, from its producing wine. 



106 FOURTH SERIES. 

LESSON XVIII. 

INK. 

Qualities. 

It is black, 
bright, 
useful, 
opaque, 
artificial, 
liquid. 

astringent, or contracting, 
fluid. 

solid, as occupying a space, 
yielding to the touch, 
poisonous. 

Ink is made of galls, gum, sulphate of iron, and 
water. Galls are excrescences, or bunches taken 
from the oak ; they are occasioned by an insect, 
which wounds the bark of the tree, and lays its 
eggs in the aperture. The torn vessels of the 
tree discharge some of their contents, which hard- 
ening, form a protuberance, which becomes a de- 
fensive covering for the eggs. The insect having 
burst from the egg, feeds, during its larvae state, 
on this substance, through which it eats its way, 
whilst assuming its perfect form. Sulphate of iron 
is a dissolution of iron in sulphuric acid, and when 
applied to the acid of the galls, it becomes quite 
black, upon which quality the great utility of ink 
depends. 



LESSON XIX. MILK. 107 

LESSON XIX. 

MILK. 

Qualities. 

It is white, 
fluid. . 
liquid, 
wholesome, 
nice. 

animal substance, 
natural, 
opaque, 
soft, 
smooth. 

yielding to the touch, 
emollient. 

solid, as occupying a space, 
when fresh, warm. 

nutritious. 

Uses. — For animals to feed their young (all 
animals that do so belong to the class Mammalia); 
for making cheese, butter, to drink. 

Cows are the animals that in general supply 
milk to man. Invalids drink the milk of asses. 
In Tartary they use the milk of mares; in 
Switzerland that of goats ; in the northern 
countries that of rein-deers ; in Arabia that of 
camels. 

The Teacher would find it a very improving 
and interesting exercise, occasionally to take two 
substances, and compare them together — as water 



108 FOURTH SERIES. 

and milk, and desire the class to find out in what 
respect they are both alike. They are both fluid, 
liquid, cold, incompressible, penetrating, natural, 
i&c. And then to mention by what qualities they 
are distinguished from each other. The water is 
transparent, the milk is opaque; the water is 
■colorless, the milk is white ; the water is tasteless, 
the milk is sweet, &c. 

Liquids are distinguished by qualities that 
separate them very definitely from other sub- 
stances. They may all become solid, they are 
all fluid, incompressible ; their parts easily sepa- 
rate, forming into spheres or drops ; they pene- 
trate into the pores of substances ; and they find 
their own level. This circumstance can easily 
be proved to the pupils by means of a syphon. 
Having named the properties common to all 
liquids, the class should also be required to men- 
tion the qualities peculiar to each, as in the lesson 
on spices. 



FIFTH SERIES. 



METALS, &c. 




A Specimen of Native Copper. 




109 



A Specimen of Mercury in the form of Sulphuret 




A Specimen of 
Native Gold. 



A Specimen of 
Silica or Flint. 



10 



110 






FIFTH SERIES. 



METALS, &c. 




A Specimen of Rock Crystal, (Silica). 





A Specimen of 
Native Silver. 



A Specimen of 
Sparry Lead Ore. 



Ill 



FIFTH SERIES. 



CORK. 




Cork is the external bark of a species of oak 
which grows in Spain, Portugal, and other south- 
ern countries of Europe, and is distinguished by 
the fungous texture of its bark, and the leaves 
being evergreen, oblong, somewhat oval, downy 
underneath, and waved. The principal supply 
of cork is obtained from Catalonia in Spain. 
The above cut represents a cork tree. 



112 



FIFTH SERIES. 



WOOL. 




Wool is one of the most extensively useful ar- 
ticles in existence. The Sheep which furnish 
'♦vool are raised chiefly in the northern and tem- 
perate regions of the earth. Much attention has 
be«n paid in the United States to improving our 
Sheep, by the introduction of foreign varieties ; 
and the Merinoes and Saxon Sheep have now be- 
come quite common. Still immense quantities 
of wool continue to be imported from foreign 
countries, for the supply of our numerous factories 
of woolltjn cloths. 



FIFTH SERIES. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



These lessons are intended as a first exercise 
in composition. Th^ object should be presented 
to the children, and they should continue, as 
before, to make their own observations upon it. 
They are then interrogated as to what they know 
concerning- the substance ; and all the information 
which can be obtained from them is collected by 
the Teacher, who may then communicate any 
further particulars on the subject, calculated to 
interest or instruct. The materials thus obtained 
should then be arranged, and repeated to them. 
After this, the class should be examined upon all 
that has passed, and finally required to draw up a 
written account themselves. Children, from eight 
to ten years of age, have derived great improve- 
ment from this exercise. It not only serves to 
stimulate their attention during the progress of 
the lesson, but also furnishes a test of their hav- 
ing well understood it ; and leads them to arrange 
and express their ideas with clearness and facility. 
In this course the substance should be exhibited 
10* 



114 



FIFTH SERIES. 



both m its raw, and in its manufactured state. 
Thus, in the lesson on flax, the plant itself, the 
fibres when separated- from the stem, the thread 
when spun, and the various substances into which 
it is made, may be brought before the class, and 
likewise pictures of the machinery employed in 
these operations. 

Many of the lessons in the following series 
will contain too much matter to be presented 
at one time to the pupils, and must therefore be 
divided. 



LESSON I. 

LEATHER. 

Leather is the prepared skin of animals ; that 
of cows, oxen, and horses, is chiefly used for 
shoes ; that of kids, goats, and dogs, for gloves, 
and also shoes ; and that of calves for bookbind- 
ing, saddles, harness, &c. 

The unprepared skin is called a hide ; the first 
operation it undergoes is soaking in lime-water to 
cleanse it from grease and other impurities ; the 
hairs are then removed by a kind of knife, the 
oil and grease are afterwards more completely 
extracted by alkali, or diluted sulphuric acid. 
After this it is taken to the tan-yard, stretched 
over a pit and covered with tan ; in this state it 
remains, about two months. But if the leather 
be intended for the upper part of shoes, seats of 
saddles, and such purposes as do not require it 
to be very strong or water-proof, it is first sent 
to the currier : his work is to scrape it, reducing 



LESSON II. CORK. 115 

it all to an equal degree of thickness, and also to 
render it supple by oil or grease. The skins are 
then tanned. Tan is the bark of the oak, pos- 
sessing a remarkable degree of astringency ; it 
consequently contracts the pores of the leather, 
and renders it impervious to wet. The quality 
which the leather thus obtains from the tanning, 
combined with its durability and suppleness, par- 
ticularly adapts it for shoes, boots, &;c. 



LESSON II. 



Cork is the bark of a kind of oak, growing 
chiefly in Spain. When it is taken from the tree, 
the bark is cut longitudinally, and at the extrem- 
ities of the slit, incisions arc made round the 
trunk ; it is then easily stripped off by means of 
a curved knife, with a handle at both ends. 
When the bark is taken from the tree, it is piled 
up in a ditch or pond, and heavy stones are placed 
upon it in order to flatten it. After being dried, it 
is slightly burnt, then packed for exportation. 
One principal use of cork is to stop bottles, for 
which purpose it is fitted by its elasticity ; a piece 
rather larger than the neck of the bottle, being 
inserted into it, the tendency it has to resume its 
former shape causes it completely to fill up the 
aperture, and exclude the air. Being lighter 
than water it is very useful to those who are 
learning to swim, by buoying them up ; it is 
also employed in the construction of life-boats, 
and the floats of fishing nets. The Spaniards 



116 FIFTH SERIES. 

make lampblack of it. The men employed in 
cutting and preparing it for sale are called cork- 
cutters. 



LESSON III. 

INDIAN RUBBER, OR GUM ELASTIC 

Indian Rubber is the thickened or hardened 
juice of a tree which grows in South America. 
In order to procure it, the Indians make incisions 
through the bark of the tree in wet weather, and 
a milky juice oozes out, which is spread over 
moulds of clay ; when this is dry, a second layer 
of the liquid is put on it ; this operation is re- 
peated till the Indian Rubber is of the thickness 
required. After this it is placed over the smoke 
of burning vegetables, which hardens and darkens 
it. The Indians convert it into bottles, boots, 
and flambeaux. The principal uses to which 
indian rubber is applied here, are, for the effacing 
of black-lead marks, for cricket-balls, shoes, for 
flexible tubes, syringes, and other instruments 
used by surgeons and chemists. Cloth of all 
kinds may be made impenetrable to water, if im- 
pregnated with the fresli juice of the indian rubber 
tree. Indian rubber cut very thin, is now also 
used to sheath the bottom of vessels, and is an 
effectual preservative from the injuries of shell- 
fish. 



LESSON IV. SPONGE. 117 

LESSON IV. 

SPONGE. 

Sponge is a marine production ; it was formerly 
supposed to be a vegetable, but the opinion now 
generally entertained is, that it is a habitation 
constructed by a little worm, one of the species 
considered' to occupy the lowest rank in the 
animal kingdom. It is found adhering to various 
marine substances at the bottom of the sea, 
especially in the Mediterranean; it is procured 
by divers, who are early trained to this hazard- 
ous employment. Sponge absorbs fluids rapidly, 
and yields them again v/hen compressed ; this 
property occasioned it to be frequently saturated 
with myrrh and wine, and given to persons suffer- 
ing the punishment of crucifixion, in order to 
alleviate their pain, and subdue the intolerable 
thirst which is the consequence of their agony. 
To this custom the sacred historian refers in the 
history of our blessed Lord ; but his unrelenting 
persecutors, instead of offering him the enlivening 
portion of myrrhed wine, which was rarely denied 
to the vilest malefactor, "filled a sponge with 
vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his 
mouth." The offer of vinegar was considered, 
among the Jews, as an intolerable outrage to 
their feelings. It is alluded to in the following 
passage, which at the same time, foretold the 
future sufferings of the Redeemer of mankind. 
'* Reproach hath broken mine heart, and I am full- 
pf heaviness ; and I looked for some to take pity 



118 FIFTH SERIES. 

but there was none; and for XJomforters, but I 
found none. They gave me also gall for my meat, 
and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." 
Psalm Ixix. 20, 21. 



LESSON V. 

CAMPHOR. 

Camphor is the peculiar juice of a species of 
laurel called the camphor tree, which is abundant 
in China, in Borneo, and in Ceylon. It becomes 
thick or concrete by exposure to the air. It is 
remarkably inflammable, and is used by the Indian 
princes to give light in their rooms. It is pungent, 
volatile, acrid, and strongly aromatic. These 
qualities have rendered it useful as a medicine, 
and in sick-rooms to prevent contagion. It is also 
placed in collections to keep off the small insects 
that prey upon the specimens. 



LESSON VI. 

HORN. 

Horn is the hard substance that forms the front- 
al projections of horned animals ; these are all 
graminivorous,* i. e. eating grass. This sub- 
stance, when boiled, becomes a soft jelly, and can 
be moulded into any shape. By a peculiar pro- 
cess it is rendered semi-transparent, and when 

* From Lat. gramen, grass, voro, I eat. 



LESSON VII. VIII. SHELL LAC, WAX CANDLE. 119 

formed into thin laminae or plates, is employed 
instead of glass for lanterns. It was the first 
transparent substance used for windows. It is 
now chiefly employed for combs, handles to 
knives and forks, occasionally for drinking uten- 
sils and inkhorns. It was formerly in much 
higher request than now, glass having been sub- 
stituted for it. 

LESSON VII. 

SHELL LAC. 

Shell lac is the production of a little insect 

called COCCUS lacca, which feeds on the Indian 

fig-tree; on this plant it also places its eggs, 

forming a cell around them from a viscid liquid, 

which is contained in its own body ; it hardens in 

the sun, and in this state is the substance called 

I stick lac; when broken into small grains, it is 

! called seed lac ; and, if melted and formed into 

! thin lamince or folia, is shell lac. It is the prin- 

; cipal ingredient in sealing-wax and varnish, and 

i is employed in japanning. Its usefulness arises 

1 from its being fusible, soluble, and adhesive. 

LESSON VIII. 

WAX CANDLE. 

Wax is the produce of the industrious bee ; it 

is a substance which is secreted in their bodies, 

and of -which they construct their cells. When 

j the honey is taken out of the comb, the latter is 



120 FIFTH SERIES. 

melted, and afterwards bleached by exposure to 
the air. In making candles of it, wax in a liquid 
state is poured into leaden moulds in the centre 
of which the wick has been previously fixed. 
The wick is made of cotton or flax, and when 
lighted the melting wax rises up its fibres and 
feeds the flame.* 



LESSON IX. 

GLU'E. 

Glue is a sticky substance, used as a cement. 
The best is obtained from the skins of animals, 
generally the shavings, parings and strips, which 
have been rejected by the currier. An inferior 
kind is procured from the hoofs, sinews, &;c. of 
animals. ~ It is prepared by steeping the skin for^ 
two or three days in water, then boiling it till it 
becomes a thick jelly ; whilst hot, it is strained 
through osier baskets: the pure glue passes 
through the interstices, leaving the impurities in 
the baskets. It is then melted a second time, 
poured into square frames or moulds, and placed 
in the air gradually to cool and congeal. When 
used it is melted again. Glue is used by car- 
penters, joiners, hatters, bookbinders, &;c. 

A glue prepared from fish, particularly the 
whale, is called isinglass, and is used for culinary 
purposes,- and for refining wine. 



* The teacher will find this a favorable opportunity of e.t 
plaining the nature of capillary attraction. 



LESSON X. COFFEE. 1^1 



LESSON X. 

COFFEE. 

Coffee is the seed of a plant growing princi- 
pally in Arabia and the West Indies ; the flower 
resembles white jessamine, and the leaves are 
evergreen ; the fruit when ripe is like the cherry ; 
it generally contains two cells, sometimes only 
one, and each cell has a single seed, which is of 
a hemispherical shape. When matured, it is 
either gathered by the hand or shaken from the 
trees, and placed on floors for the sun to dry the 
pulpy substance which surrounds the seeds. The 
skin is broken by heavy rollers, and afterwards 
removed by winnowing. In order to prepare the 
coffee for a beverage, it must be roasted till it be- 
comes of a dark brown color and extremely 
odorous, after which it is ground, and either in- 
fused or boiled in water. It is remarkable for its 
very stimulating property, which is said to have 
led to its discovery. Some goats, who browsed 
upon this plant, were observed by the goatherd to 
be exceedingly wakeful, and often to caper about 
in the night ; the prior of a neighboring monas- 
tery, wishing to keep his monks awake at their 
matins, tried if it would produce the same effect 
upon them as it was observed to do upon the 
goats : his success led to the appreciation of its 
value. 

11 



122 FIFTH SEKIES. 

LESSON XL 

TEA. 

Tea is an infusion of the leaves of a plant grow- 
ing in China and Japan. It bears a flower re- 
sembling the wild rose ; the leaves are narrow, 
pointed, and serrated. The plant grows only in 
a stony soil, and at the foot of mountains and 
rocks, exposed to a southern aspect. There is 
great art exercised in gathering and drying the 
leaves, which are afterwards subjected to the va- 
pors of boiling water, to moisten them. Li this 
state they are laid upon plates of metal, which 
being exposed to great heat, cause the leaves to 
curl up in the manner they appear when brought 
into our market. Green tea is the produce of 
the same plant as black ; the difference of its 
qualities arises from the leaves being gathered in 
a different stage of their growth, and dried upon 
plates of copper. 

LESSON XIL 

SAGO. 

Sago is the pitch of the sago palm, a tree indi- 
genous to Japan and the rocky dry mountains of 
Malabar. 

It is hardly possible to imagine a plant more 
graceful in its foliage, or more beautiful when in 
fruit than this species of palm. The foliation, 
which slightly resembles that of the fern, is placed 



LESSON XII. XIII. SAGO, RICE. 123 

on the stem in the manner of the feathers of a 
shuttlecock, forming a gigantic basket of the most 
graceful form ; at tlie bottom of this is the salmon- 
colored fruit, resembling, both in shape and 
texture, the coxcomb, but of a pale buff color, 
inclining to brown. The fruit is a drupa, that is, 
a nut surrounded by a pulpy substance (as a plum.) 
The nut is eatable. The growth of this plant at 
first is slow : it appears for some time a shrub 
thickly set with prickles ; as it increases in height, 
it loses its thorns. When the tree has reached 
its maturity, a whitish powder passes through the 
pores of the leaves, and sticks to.lheir extremities. 
On this intimation of the trees being filled with 
pith, the Malays cut them down near their roots, 
and divide them into several sections, which are 
split into quarters. The bark is woody and about 
an inch in thickness ; in the centre of the stem 
is a fat or gummy pith, which forms the sago. 
This pithy substance being scooped out, is diluted 
in pure water, and strained through a bag of fine 
cloth, which separates the gummy from the mealy 
matter. This latter having evaporated part of its 
moisture, is put in earthen vessels, where it dries 
and hardens into little globules. Sago is extremely 
nutritious and wholesome, and forms an excellent 
light diet for invalids. 

LESSON XIII. 

RICE. 

Rice is the grain of a kind of corn which 
grows very abundantly in China, the West Indies, 
the Southern States of North America, and in 



124 FIFTH SERIES. 

South America. It will not thrive without much 
moisture, and therefore comes to the greatest per- 
fection in marshy lands. The cultivators of rice 
always inundate their grounds, and the higher the 
water rises the higher the plant grows, the ear 
always appearing above the water. It requires 
as much heat to mature the seed, as it does 
moisture to nourish the plant. Rice grows in a 
spike resembling oats. In India the women 
thresh and prepare the rice, which is a very 
laborious employment. Brahmins live almost 
entirely upon it, their religion forbidding them, the 
use of animal food. Hice serves not only for food, 
but is also manufactured into paper, and vessels 
which resemble china or alabaster. 



LESSON XIV. 

PAPER. 

There are several kinds of paper, viz. Egyptian 
paper, made of a reed called Papyrus, growing on 
the banks of the Nile, from which paper takes its 
name. 

Bark paper is made of the inner rind of trees. 

Cotton paper cotton. 

Incombustible paper asbestos. 

European paper linen rags. 

Indian paper silk rags. 

Rice paper rice. 

Coarse brown paper the ends of ropes. 



American straw paper straw. 



LESSON XIV. PAPER. 125 

Linen paper was first introduced into England 
in the fourteenth century. It is made of linen 
rags ; these are first carefully picked and sorted, 
according to their quality ; they are then reduced 
to a pulp by a machine, which consists of a 
solid cylindrical piece of wood, into which are 
fastened plates of steel, ground very sharp : this 
is fixed in a trough into which the rags are put 
with a sufficient quantity of water. At the 
bottom of the trough is a plate with steel bars 
also ground sharp : the engine being-turned round 
with considerable velocity, and the rags passing 
through the two sets of iron plates are torn to 
pieces, and in the course of four hours are re- 
duced to a pulp. The motion of the engine causes 
the water in the trough to circulate, and by that 
means constantly returns the stuff" to the engine. 
The trough is fed with clear water at one end, 
while the dirty water is carried off" at the other 
through a hole defended with wire grating to pre- 
vent the escape of the pulp also. From this, which 
is called the washing-engine, the pulp passes. in a 
state of purity and whiteness to another engine 
similarly constructed, and called the heating- 
engine. ¥he only difference of this operation 
from the former is, that the velocity is increased, 
and that it is no longer necessary to introduce 
fresh water, the pulp having been already cleansed 
from its impurities. From hence it passes into a 
large vat connected with boilers, and the heat 
produces a degree of consistency : it is afterwards 
conveyed into smaller vessels, in each of which 
is a wheel called an agitator, which prevents the 
pulp from sinking to the bottom. Into these 
11^ 



126 FIFTH SERIES. 

vessels a workman dips a mould, a kind of sieve 
the size of the paper to be made, and about an 
inch deep ; the bottom is formed of fine brass 
wires through which the superfluous water passes. 
The skill of the workman consists in taking up 
just so much pulp as is necessary to form the 
paper of a proper thickness. Another workman is 
stationed to receive from the first the mould, out 
of which he turns the sheet upon a felt or woollen 
cloth ; another woollen cloth is placed upon it 
ready to receive the next sheet. Thus they 
proceed, placing alternately paper and felt till 
they have made six quires of paper. This is 
then wheeled to the press, where great force is 
applied, and the water is squeezed from it. After 
this the paper is separated from the felt, one 
slieet is laid upon another, and it undergoes a 
second pressure. This operation is repeated 
five or six times before it is sized, and the 
sheets are separated from one another between 
each application of the screw press. They are 
afterwards hung up to dry in rooms where there 
is a fresh current of air. In this state the paper is 
absorbent like blotting paper ; to fitlt for writing, 
it is sized. Size is made of vellum* shavings 
boiled in water, with white vitriol, and alum 
finely pounded. After the paper is sized, it is 
again pressed four or five times, and hung up to 
dry as before. It is then told into quires, and sent 
to the stationer, who prepares it for sale. 

It is probable that skins were the first substance 
upon which characters were written. 

* \^ellum irf the i;reparLHl skiu of young calves 



LESSON XV. PARCHMENT. 1'27 



LESSON XV. 



PARCHMENT. 

Parchment is the skin of sheep or goats, pre- 
pared in the following manner. The wool is 
stripped off the skin, which is then taken to the 
lime-pit ; after this it is stretched as tight as a 
drum upon a frame, and the remaining flesh pared 
off with a keen-edged instrument; a kind of 
white stone or chalk reduced to a fine powder is 
then spread upon the surface, and a large pumice 
stone flat at bottom is rubbed over it, which scours 
off" the remainder of the flesh. The knife is once 
more applied to the skin, which is moistened and 
rubbed again with the pumice stone, until the 
inner side is smooth. The outside then under- 
goes a similar operation. It is now left to dry, 
and afterwards is taken off* the frame, and given 
to the parchment maker. He first scrapes it dry 
on an instrument called a summer, (which is a 
calf's skin well stretched on a frame,) with a 
sharp iron tool, until one half of the thickness of 
the skin is pared off"; the pumice stone is next 
passed over it on both sides, till it is rendered 
quite smooth. 

Parchment was in use long before the invention 
of paper. Wills, and other documents, intended 
to be preserved for any length of time, are written 
on it. It is also used for drums. 



128 FIFTH SERIES. 

LESSON XVI. 

GLASS. 

Glass is made from an alkali and sand or flint, 
which are subjected to the action of fire. This 
mixture is said to have been discovered accident- 
ally in Syria by some merchants, who were driven 
by stress of weather upon its shores. They had 
lighted a fire iipon the sands to cook their food ; 
the fire was made of the plant called kali, which 
grows on the sea-shore ; the sand mixed with its 
ashes, became vitrified by the heat, and glass Avas 
produced. The merchants observed the effect of 
the union of these two substances, and thus was 
furnished the first hint for the making of glass, 
which has since been carried to such great per- 
fection. The first place where the manufacture 
of glass was.carried on was Sidon in Syria. Eng- 
land is now much celebrated for its glass. The 
qualities which render glass so valuable are, that 
it is hard, transparent, incorrosive, not being af- 
fected by any substance but fluoric acid, and that 
when fused it becomes so ductile and plastic that 
it may be moulded into any form, which it will 
retain when cool. It can be cut by the diamond 
only. There are three sorts of furnaces used in 
making glass. One to prepare the frit, a second 
to work the glass, and a third to anneal it. After 
having properly mixed the ashes and sand, they 
are put into t-he first furnace where they are 
burned or calcined for a sufficient time, and be- 
come what is called friL This being l^oiled 



LESSON XVII. WHALEBONE. 129 

afterwards in pots or crucibles of pipe clay in the 
second furnace, is fit for the operation of blowing ; 
the annealing furnace is intended to cool the glass 
very gradually, for if it be exposed to the cold air 
immediately after being formed into utensils, it 
will fall into a thousand pieces, as if struck by a 
hammer. 

Before glass was invented, thin folia of mica 
were used for windows. 



LESSON XVII. 

WHALEBONE. 

Whalebone is taken from the jawbone of the 
whale, the largest animal that now inhabits our 
globe, and whose mouth occupies a third part of 
its body. The whales are caught in the following 
manner. When the vicinity of the fish is ascer- 
tained by the water which it spouts up, six boats 
are dispatched from the vessels employed in this 
fishery, with six rowers in each, and a man called 
an harpooner, armed with a forked instrument 
called a harpoon ; to this is affixed a rope, at the 
other end of which is a gourd ; this instrument 
having been darted into the whale, the gourd 
marks the spot where the wounded animal disap- 
pears. The whale when struck dives with such 
velocity into the sea, that it is necessary to wet 
the rope which he draws over the sides of the 
boat to prevent its taking fire, and the fishermen 
find it necessary to let go the rope for a time, till 
the whale be spent, otherwise he would sink the 
boiit by his exUeme violence. The whale cannot 



130 FIFTH SERIES. 

remain long under water; he soon reappears 
spouting up blood, and is again attacked by the 
harpooners, who, after repeated efforts, dispatch 
him. When dead, they cut him up; the fat 
which is called blubber is stowed into casks, 
and oil is afterwards procured from it. The 
bone is used as a stiffener, for whips, bows, 
bludgeons, &;c. The chief whale fisheries are 
on the coast of Greenland, and in other parts of 
the northern seas. 



LESSON XVIII. 



BREAD. 

Bread is composed of flour, yeast, and a little 
salt, kneaded together with water into a soft paste 
called dough. Flour is most frequently made of 
wheat, which when taken from the barn is first 
thrashed ; the instrument employed for this pur- 
pose is either a flail, or a thrashing-machine ; the 
grain is next separated from the chaff by winnow- 
ing, and the former is conveyed to the mill, 
where by grinding it is converted into flour ; the 
skin of the grain when separated is called bran, 
when left with the flour, it makes the flour brown- 
er and coarser. The yest is the fermentation 
which rises to the top of new beer ; it penetrates 
the dough, disunites the particles, causes them to 
rise, and thus makes the bread light. It is simi- 
lar in its effects to the leaven mentioned in Scrip- 
ture, which is sour dough penetrating and chang- 
ing the state of the whole mass. Our Savior calls 



LESSON XIX. SUGAR. 131 

himself the bread of life, the nourishment bread 
affords our bodies, representing in a faint degree 
the nourishment He affords our souls when he 
feeds them with the hidden manna of his word. 
Bread from its nutritious and wholesome proper- 
ties is often termed the staff' of life, and is fre- 
quently used to signify food in general. A man 
is thus said to earn his bread, and we pray for 
our daily bread. 

Rye, oats, and barley, Indian corn and buck- 
wheat, are sometimes made into bread. 



LESSON XIX. 

SUGAR. 

Sugar is the produce of the sugar-cane, a plant 
growing principally in the East and West Indies, 
and the southernmost states of the Union. A 
field of canes in blossom presents a beautiful 
sight ; the stem is a jointed culmus or reed ; 
when ripe it is of a bright golden hue, growing 
amidst long narrow pendent leaves. The flowers 
appear like a plume of white feathers tinged with 
lilac. The leaves afford food for the cattle ; when 
ripe, the cane or stem is gathered and conveyed 
to the mill, where it is pressed between two iron 
cylinders; the juice is received into a trough, and 
from thence it is conveyed to a boiler, into which 
some quick-lime is thrown; this, uniting with the 
oleaginous particles and the superabundant acid, 
rises with them to the surface and is skimmed oflT. 
Whea the sugar nearly boils, it is strained off' 



132 FIFTH SERIES. 

into another boiler, where it undergoes the same 
process as before. This is repeated six or seven 
times, when it is received into coolers which are 
shallow v/ooden vessels. In these the sugar 
forms into grains, separating itself from the mo- 
lasses ; when dry, it is called raw sugar, and is 
barrelled for exportation. The process of con- 
verting it into white or refined sugar, is the 
business of the sugar-refiner or baker ; he boils 
it over again, putting bullocks' blood and white 
of eggs into it to cleanse it from its impurities. 

The planter is the cultivator of the sugar-canes. 
The merchant imports it. The sugar-refiner con- 
verts it into white sugar. The grocer sells the 
sugar in retail quantities. 



LESSON XX. 

HEMP. 

Hemp is obtained from an annual plant which 
thrives in a rich moist soil in temperate climates. 
It is muchxultivated in some parts of England 
and the United States ; and in Russia it forms 
one of the chief articles of commerce. The stalk 
mainly consists of a tissue of fibres joined together 
by a soft substance which easily rots. At the 
proper season it is gathered and steeped in water ; 
then beaten in order to loosen the bark from the 
fibres. This is completed by an operation called 
carding, performed with an instrument resem- 
bling a comb. It is next spun, and then passes 
into the hands of the ropemaker or weaver, ac- 
cording to the use for which it is designed. 



LESSON XXI. FLAX, 133 

The extreme toughness, pliability, and dura- 
bility of hemp, lit it peculiarly for purposes where 
great strength is required, as the cordage and 
tackle of our vessels, and fishing nets. It is 
computed that the sails and cordage of a first-rate 
man of war, require as much hemp for their con- 
struction, as would be the yearly produce of four 
hundred and twenty -four acres of land. 



LESSON XXI. 

FLAX. 

Flax is a slender annual plant with a hollow 
fibrous stem, and bearing a delicate blue flower. 
From its fibrous bark we 'procure the comfort of 
linen, the beauty of lace ; our vessels by its means 
are wafted across the ocean, and even its rags are 
made into paper. In the book of Genesis we 
read that Noah slept beneath a tent. Egypt also 
very early attained a wonderful perfection in the 
manufacture of Linen. The seeds of the flax 
are much liked by birds, and produce an oil 
called linseed oil ; from Linum the botanical 
name of the plant. When the flax is gathered, it 
is exposed for some time to the influence of the 
sun to ripen the seeds; which are afterwards 
thrashed out, and the oil is pressed out, or ex- 
pressed from them. The stalks are then loosely 
tied in bundles fastened to poles, and placed in 
stagnant pools, where they are left to steep for 
about fifteen days. By the fermentation which 
ensues, the bark or flaxy substance becomes sepa- 
rated, when the stalks are thinly spread on the 
12 



134 FIFTH SERIES. 

grass, in which state they exhale a very disagi-ee- 
able and pernicious odor. After this operation 
they are beaten with a mallet, which removes the 
pulpy substance and loosens the fibres ; these are 
then drawn through a comb with coarse iron teeth, 
and afterwards through one with finer teeth. The 
refuse is called tow, and is the substance used to 
make packing cloths, and for the calking of 
ships. The operation of spinning which next 
succeeds, is drawing out several of the fibres and 
twisting them; this was formerly done by means 
of a distaff, but now it is performed in a more 
expeditious manner by machinery. Weaving is 
the final operation ; it may be regarded as a finer 
kind of matting. To perform it, the threads 
which compose the length of a piece of cloth are 
first disposed in order, and strained by weights to 
a proper tightness ; this is called the warp. These 
threads are separated by an instrument called a 
reed, into two sets, each composed of every other 
thread ; and while by the working of a treadle, 
each set of threads is thrown alternately up and 
down, the cross threads called the woof or weft 
are inserted between them, by means of a little 
instrument, sharp at both ends, called a shuttle, 
which the weaver briskly throws from one hand 
to the other, and which carries the thread with it. 
This is the most simple kind of weaving. The 
quality of the flax depends upon the soil in 
which it is cultivated : but the fineness of the 
thread in some degree also upon the dexterity of 
the spinner. 



LESSON XXII. XXIII. COTTON, WOOL. 135 

LESSON XXII. 

COTTON. 

The cotton plant is cultivated in the East and 
West Indies; it produces a beautiful yellow 
flower ; and the seed vessel is a pod containing a 
white downy substance which surrounds the seed. 
This is picked by the hand, and separated from 
the seeds by a machine which at the same time 
loosens its fibres ; afterwards it is packed in large 
bags, and sent by the planter to the manufacturer. 
It is then carded ; that is, wound upon cylindrical 
cards worked by machinery ; afterwards it is 
roved, by which process the loose fibres are re- 
moved with an instrument resembling a comb ; 
it is then twisted and drawn out into threads or 
yarn, and sent to the weaver. It is made into 
muslins, calicoes, stockings, quilts, corderoys, &;c. 
The machinery employed in the United States in 
carding, roving, and spinning, is quite admirable, 
and occasions our cotton goods to be much sought 
after. In India and China some of the plants 
produce a buff cotton, of which nankeens are 
manufactured. 

LESSON XXIII. 

WOOL. 

The clothing manufactured from wool, is par- 
ticularly adapted to cold countries ; it does not 



136 FIFTH SERIES. 

communicate warmth, but being a non-conductor 
of heat, it prevents that of our bodies from es- 
caping. Wool is the hairy covering of sheep, 
and is taken from the living animal in the sum- 
mer season ; the operation is called sheep-shear- 
ing, and the wool in this state the fleece. The 
wool of the Spanish sheep is particularly fine ; 
in that country a flock often contains a thousand 
sheep. 

The first operation performed on the raw wool 
is to pick and sort it ; this is particularly needful, 
as the same sheep produces wool of various 
qualities. It is next cleansed from its impurities 
and committed to the wool-comber, who by means 
of iron spiked combs of different degrees of fine- 
ness draws out the fibres, smooths, and straightens 
them. It is then prepared for the spinner who 
forms it into threads, the more twisted of which 
are called worsted, and the less twisted yarn. It 
is then employed in the manufacture of every 
description of hosiery, stuffs, carpets, flannels, 
blanket, and cloths. England manufactures so 
much woollen clothing, that it was formerly con- 
sidered the staple commodity of that country, 
and to mark the estimation in which it was held, 
the Lord Chancellor sits upon a woolsack. The 
woollen manufactures of the United States are 
becoming very important. 



LESSON XXIV. SILK. 137 



LESSON XXIV. 



SILK. 



Silk is the production of a caterpillar, and con- 
stitutes the covering' in which it envelopes itself, 
when it changes from the larva state to that of the 
chrysalis. From this inanimate condition it 
emerges as a motli, and having laid its eggs, it 
soon ceases to exist. When we consider that 
our most luxurious and splendid attire is the pro- 
duction of a worm, how are wo led to admire the 
power and wisdom of that Being, who works by 
such insignificant means ! 

Tlie cocoon or web of the silk-worm is an oval 
ball of silk, which it has spun out of a substance 
secreted in its own body. The shades of the silk 
vary from the palest straw-color to deep yellow. 
In a state of nature the silk-worms form their co- 
coons upon the Mulberry-tree itself, Avhere they 
shine like golden fruits amidst the leaves ; but 
the colder climates of Europe will not allow of 
their being reared in the open air. They are in 
consequence kept in warm but airy rooms, and 
fed with mulberry-leaves till they are fully grown. 
They change their skin several times while they 
are in the caterpillar state ; at length they become 
so full of the silky matter that it gives them a 
yellowish tinge ; they then cease to eat. Twigs 
are now placed over them upon little stages of 
wickcrwork, on which they immediately begin to 
form their webs. When these are finished, the 
12 * 



138 FIFTH SERIES. 

silk is wound off, which when unravelled, measures 
from seven hundred to one thousand feet. After 
separating the downy matter on the outside called 
Jlos, the cocoons are thrown into warm water to 
dissolve the glutinous particles which had caused 
the silk to adhere, and the ends of the threads 
being found, several are joined together and 
wound upon a reel ; this is called raw silk. It 
next undergoes some operation to cleanse it, and 
render it more supple, after which it is twisted 
into threads of different degrees of fineness as re- 
quired by the weaver ; in this state it is called 
thrown silk. The excellence of silk as a material 
consists in its strength, lightness, lustre, and its 
being capable of taking the finest dyes. Silk 
may be made into substances varying in thick- 
ness, from the finest transparent gauze, to the 
richest velvets and brocades. The English manu- 
facturers are chiefly supplied with silk from 
China, Persia, and Italy. France is the most 
northern climate in which silk is produced in any 
quantity. The manufacture of silk is already 
commenced in the United States. 



IJESSON XXV. 



COURT PLASTER. 

Court-plaster is a black, adhesive, thin sub- 
stance, applied to wounds on the skin, to protect 
them from the injurious effects of the air. The fol- 
lowing is the manner of preparing it : a thin black 
Harsnet is strctcliod on a frame ; a warm solution 



WESSON XXVI. SAFFRON. 139 

of isinglass (a glutinous substance prepared from 
the bones of fish, particularly the whale) is ap- 
plied with a brush equally over the surface — 
when dry, this is repeated a second or third time. 
It is next washed over with some Benzoin dis- 
solved in spirits of wine/ Benzoin is a resinous 
gum, which is found on a tree growing in Suma- 
tra. It possesses an aromatic perfume, and acts 
as a styptic, i. e. stanches blood. It is also the 
chief ingredient in Friar's Balsam, and gives it 
the healing virtue it possesses. 



LESSON XXVI. 



SAFFRON. 

Saffron is the orange-colored pistil of a species 
of crocus, the leaves of which appear in spring, 
and the blossoms in autumn. It abounds in the 
neighborhood of Saffron Walden, in Essex, Eng- 
land, which takes its name from that circum- 
stance. It is also common in our American gar- 
dens. The flowers are gathered every morning 
just before they expand, and as they continue to 
open in succession for several weeks, the saffron 
harvest lasts a considerable time. When the 
flowers are gathered, they are spread on a table : 
the upper part of the pistil only is of any value. 
When a sufficient quantity of these arc collected, 
they are dried upon a kind of portable kiln ; over 
this a hair cloth is stretched, and upon it a few 
sheets of white paper ; the saffron is placed upon 
these to the thickness of two or three inches ; the 



140 FIFTH SERIES. 

whole is then covered with white paper, over 
which is placed a coarse blanket or canvas bag 
filled with straw. When the fire has heated the 
kiln, a board, on which is a weight, is placed 
upon the blanket and presses the saffron together. 
It is used as a medicine, serving as a slight tonic, 
and to exhilarate the spirits, also to flavor cakes, 
and to form a yellow dye. 



LESSON XXVII. 



BUTTER. 

Butter is an unctuous substance prepared from 
the milk of the cows. AVhen milk h.-js been al- 
lowed to stand a few hours, a thick rich substance 
called cream rises to the surface. This is skim- 
med off, and by being briskly agitated is converted 
into butter. The instrument by which this ope- 
ration is performed is caWed a churn ; a certain 
degree of heat assists the process. The butter 
that is required to be kept any length of time, is 
salted and packed in small tubs or barrels. Be- 
sides the butter there is another substance re- 
maining in the churn, which is called hyttermilk. 
The person who tends the cattle is called a cow- 
herd : and the place where the milk is kept is a 
dairy. 



LESSON XXVIII. XXIX. — CHEESE, PUTTY. 141 



LESSON XXVIII. 

Cheese is prepared from milk which is coagu- 
lated by mixing it with a liquor called rennet, 
which is made by steeping the inner membrane 
of a calf's stomach in water ; the curds thus 
formed are a white solid substance ; they are 
separated from the whey or watery particles, and 
then pressed and dried. A color is usually given 
to cheese by saffron or by a substance called 
annatto, which is the seed-vessel of a shrub grow- 
ing in the West Indies. 



LESSON XXIX. 

PUTTY. 

Putty is a soft unctuous substance which 
hardens by exposure to the air, and is used by 
glaziers to cement the glass to window-frames. 
It is composed of linseed oil and whiting, some- 
times with the addition of white lead. The 
whiting is ground into a fine powder, and the oil 
and white lead are worked into it, till all the sub- 
stances are thoroughly incorporated together. 



142 FIFTH SERIES. 

LESSON XXX. 

STARCH. 

Starch is a substance obtained from several 
mealy vegetables ; it is generally prepared from 
wheat by the following process. The wheat is 
put into tubs of water, and exposed for some days 
to the heat of the sun, which brings on a degree 
of fermentation : the water is changed twice a 
day. Having by this process become sufficiently 
softened, it is poured into large canvas bags, 
which are worked or beaten, in order to separate 
the husks from the mealy particles, which are 
received into an empty vessel. Fresh water is 
again poured upon them, and after this has been 
well shaken, it is left to settle; the water is 
poured off, and the sediment which remains at 
the bottom of the vessel is starch : this is formed 
into small pieces and dried. Starch, with the 
addition of smalt or stone blue, is used to stiffen 
linen ; it is also formed into a powder for the hair. 
Starch or Fecula is the nutritive part of most 
grains and roots ; it may be extracted in con- 
siderable quantities from potatoes. 

LESSON XXXL 

FELT. 

Felt is the substance of which hats are made. 
It is composed of hairs ; those of the beaver are 



LESSON XXXI. FELT. 143 

chiefly used by hatters. The operation of felting 
depends upon a peculiar construction in all hairs, 
which however smooth and even they may appear, 
have in reality a tiled or scaly texture on the 
surface. The scales are so placed, that they 
yield to the finger drawn along the hair from the 
root to the point, but present a resistance when 
moved in a contrary direction. In consequence 
of this peculiarity, if a hair be seized in the 
middle between the two fingers and rubbed, the 
root will gradually recede and the point will ap- 
proach the fingers, exhibiting a progressive motion 
towards the root ; the imbricated surface, prevent- 
ing all motion in the opposite way. From this 
property, hairs, when beaten or pressed together, 
begin to move in the direction of the root, and 
are disposed to catch hold and twist round each 
other, and thus to stick into a close mass, which 
is called Felt. Curled hairs entwine themselves 
more closely into one another than those which 
are straight though flexible, as these latter recede 
from the root in a direct line. The hatter how- 
ever finds them very useful : he spreads them 
over the surface of his coarser cloth, and when 
pressed, these fine straight hairs moving in the 
direction of their roots form a coating ; their base 
being inserted in the felt, while their extrem- 
ities remain free. It is in consequence of this 
tendency to felt, that woollen cloths increase in 
thickness, and contract in length and breadth, by 
being washed ; and that they do not ravel out 
when cut. The Zetlanders, availing themselves 
of this peculiar construction of hairs, felt their 
wool by putting it into narrow inlets of the sea, 



144 FIFTH SERIES. 

where it is exposed to the continual motions of 
the tides. 



LESSON XXXII. 



PORCELAIN. 

Clay and flint are the chief ingredients in the 
manufacture of porcelain, from the coarsest pot- 
tery to the finest semi-transparent china. The 
clay makes it work easily into shape, the flint 
makes it hard and a little glassy. The following 
is the usual process carried on in the English 
manufactories of Chinaware. The flints are 
first reduced to powder by the action of fire, then 
mixed in certain proportions with Cornish gran- 
ite,* and ground to a very fine powder; water 
is poured upon this mixture, and it is twice 
strained through silken seives. It is then boiled 
till it is of the consistency of cream, and the 
watery particles being evaporated, it becomes a 
tough paste. A portion of this substance is then 
placed upon a turning wheel ; and moulded by 
the hand with a precision and rapidity, that 
practice only can give. This is the manner in 
which vessels of a circular shape are formed, as 
bowls, plates, cups, and saucers. Utensils of 
other forms are made in moulds of gypsum, the 
pores of which absorbing the moisture of the 
clay, the vessels are contracted in size, and thus 

* The two principal ingredients of granite are silex and 
alumine. 



LESSON XXXII. PORCELAIN. 145 

easily loosened from the mould. Each vessel 
thus formed is plaeed in a separate clay case. 
The furnace is filled with these, and then bricked 
closely up, and they are subjected to a red heat 
for sixty hours. The temperature is then 
gradually lowered, and when the porcelain is 
withdrawn, which in this state is called biscuit, 
it is a whitlfe, dull, porous substance. This process 
greatly diminishes the size of the vessels ; which 
in this state readily receive the blue color, called 
cobalt ; it has the appearance of a dirty grey till 
glazed. The glazing consists of lead and glass, 
ground to a very fine powder, mixed in water 
with some other ingredients which are kept secret. 
The biscuit is merely dipped into the glazing, 
and is then baked again for forty hours. It is 
now ready to receive all the other colors, and the 
gilding, which the pattern may require. It is 
then baked a third time for ten hours or more. 
Lastly, the gilding is burnished with bloodstone^ 
or agate, and the china is ready for the ware-room. 
The colors are changed by baking, appearing very 
different when first laid on. 



13 



146 FIFTH SERIES. 

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 

ON 

METALS. 

In these lessons on the common metals, it is 
necessary to present the specimens to the class in 
their several natural and artificial states, that is to 
say, the native, the ores, and the manufactured 
metals. The teacher would find the interest of 
the pupils awakened by the examination of the 
several substances, and consequently that they 
would be more inclined to receive with profit the 
information conveyed. The plan of writing down 
the list of qualities has been again adopted with 
the metals, as they lead to a new range of ideas, 
and form so decidedly the characteristic distinc- 
tions of the substances. 

LESSON XXXIII. 

GOLD. 

Qualities. 

It is perfect as a metul. 
malleable.* 1. 



* A solid piece of gold and some leaf-gold should be pre- 
sented to the class, and the exlreme lightness and thinness of 
the leaf may be feit. 

Teacher. How was the gold made so thin ? 

Children. It was beaten out. 



LESSON XXXIII. GOLD. 147 

It is ductile. 2. 

tenacious, — holding together strongly. 8, 
heavy. 4. 

indestructible, i. e. it cannot be destroyed, 
fusible. 

incombustible, i. e. it cannot be burnt ex- 
cept by electricity, 
soft, compared with other metals, 
pliable, 
compact, 
yellow, 
solid, 
opaque, 
brilliant, 
reflective, 
sonorous, 
metallic. 
Not affected by any acid, but aqua regia.* 



Teacher. With what? 

Children. With a hammer. 

All things that can thus be extended by beating, are called 
malleable, from Lat. Malleus, a liamraer. 

Teacher. Could glass be thus beaten out ? Could chalk? 
Camphor? What quality prevents them from being malleable ? 

Children. Glass is brittle. Chalk friable. 

Teacher. Wliat quality in gold then renders it malleable? 

Children. Its being tenacious. 

Teacher. What other quality in gold arises from its be- 
ing tenacious ? 

Children. It is ductile ? 

Teacher. Ductile is derived from Lat. Diico, I lead. 

* Aqua regia (royal water) is a mixture of muriatic acid 
and nitric acid. 



148 FIFTH SERIES. 

It is a perfect metal, because it does not lose 
any of its weight when fused. 

When the children understand fully the differ- 
ent qualities, the teacher may mention to them 
the facts that illustrate the extraordinary degree 
in which the peculiar qualities exist. 

1. " Malleable." A grain of gold the size of 
a pin's head, may be beaten out to cover a space 
of 50 square inches. 

2* " Ductile." A grain of gold can be drawn 
out to cover a wire of 352 feet in length; a 
guinea can be drawn out to reach nine miles and 
a half. 

3. " Tenacious." A wire of an inch in di- 
ameter will support 500 pounds without breaking. 

4. "Weight." It is nineteen times heavier 
than water of the same bulk. 

Uses of Gold, 

When alloyed* with copper, gold is used as 
coin and for ornamental purposes ; its beauty, 
and its not being liable to rust, fit it for the latter 
purpose. 

The gold used in coinage, called standard gold, 
consists of a mixture of gold and copper. 

Gold thread is made by covering silk or silver 
with gold beaten very thin. 



* The combinations of metals with each other are called 
in chemistry, qlloya, but this term is commonly employed to 
designate those substances which lessen the value of any with 
which they are united. 



LESSON XXXIII. GOLD. 149 

Gilding is the art of covering the surface of a 
substance with gold : this is eflected by applying 
it either in the state of a leaf, or liquid gold. 

Quicksilver dissolves gold, and unites with it, 
and has from this circumstance been used in gild- 
ing buttons, an effect which is produced very 
rapidly by the following process. The metals are 
mixed together, and the buttons immersed in the 
compound. They are then exposed to great heat, 
by which the mercury is evaporated, and the gold 
is left upon the buttons. 

The purple color used in porcelain is obtained 
from gold. 

Gold is beaten into leaves upon a smooth block 
of marble fitted into a wooden frame about two 
feet square ; on three sides there is a high ledge, 
and the front has a flap of leather attached to it 
which the workman uses as an apron to preserve 
the fragments that fall oft'. There are three kinds 
of animal membrane used in the operation. For 
interlaying with the gold the smoothest and 
closest vellum is procured ; and when the gold 
becomes thin, this is exchanged for much finer 
skin made of the entrails of oxen prepared for 
this purpose, and hence called gold beaters' skin, 
and the whole is covered with parchment to pre- 
vent the hammer from injuring it. After the 
gold has been reduced to a sufficient degree of 
thinness, it is put between paper which has been 
well smoothed and rubbed with red bole* in order 
to prevent it adhering to the gold. 



Bole, a kind of earth. 
1.3* 



150 FIFTH SERIES. 

Geographical and Geological situation of Gold, 

Gold is found principally in hot climates, either 
native or as an ore. A metal is called native 
when it occurs in nature pure, and an ore when 
mixed with other substances. Gold is found in 
mines in Brazil, Peru, and Mexico. Part of the 
western coast of Africa is called the Gold Coast, 
from the gold dust brought down by the natives 
to trade with. A great quantity of gold is ob* 
tained in the form of fine sand from American 
and African rivers ; and in small quantities from 
the Danube, the Rhine, and the Rhone : it 
is supposed to be washed down by the mountain 
torrents. The wandering tribes of gypsies em 
ploy themselves in washing it from the beds of 
the European rivers. The Himlaya mountains nn 
Asia are rich in gold. It sometimes occurs in 
the veins which run through the mountains, and 
sometimes in rounded masses in soils that are 
evidently the ruins of rocks. The mines which 
formerly yielded the largest quantities of gold 
were those of Peru and Lima ; the principal of 
Europe are those of Hungary and Saltzburg. The 
mode of extracting gold from the ore, is by re- 
ducing the whole to fine powder and mixing it 
with quicksilver. The latter unites with every 
particle of the gold, but being incapable of form- 
ing a combination with any but metallic sub- 
stances, it separates the gold from the earth with 
which it is intermixed. The quicksilver which 
has absorbed the gold, is then evaporated by 
means of heat, leaving the pure metal in the 



LESSON XXXIV. SILVER. 151 

vessel. Certain parts of the States of North and 
South Carolina, and Georgia, have recently been 
found to abound in gold. 



LESSON XXXIV. 

SILVER. 

Qualities. 

It is malleable. 1» 
ductile. 2. 
tenacious. 3. 
heavy. 4. 
indestructible, 
fusible, 
soft, 
flexible, 
perfect metal, 
opaque, 
white, 
solid, 
compact, 
natural. 

subterraneous production* 
brilliant, 
reflective, 
sweetly sonorous, 
not affected by common acids. 

1. " Malleable." Silver can be reduced to a 
thinness nearly equal to that of which gold is 
capable. 



152 FIFTH SERIES. 

2. " Ductile." It can also be drawn out to the 
finest wire. 

3. " Tenacious." A wire one-tenth of an inch 
in thickness will support 277 pounds without 
breaking. 

4. " Weight." It is about eleven times heavier 
than water. 

Uses of Silver. 

Silver is combined with copper for coin, to 
render it harder and better adapted to receive a 
fine and sharp impression on being cast. The 
same alloy is employed for ornamental purposes. 

Silver is used much as a casing to copper uten- 
sils, to prevent the injurious eflects of acids, or to 
render them more pleasing to the sight. The most 
permanent plating is effected by taking two thin 
plates of silver and copper, the former in the pro- 
portion of one to twelve of the latter ; a little pow- 
dered borax is placed between them to promote 
the fusion of the two metals, which after being 
exposed to a white heat, will be found firmly 
united; this is passed between rollers till the 
whole is of the proper thickness for the intended 
manufacture. 

Silver dissolved in aqua fortis (nitric acid) 
yields crystals, which being afterwards melted in 
crucibles, form what is called lunar caustic. This 
preparation, is of considerable value in surgical 
operations being employed to burn away proud 
flesh ; and also for consuming warts, wens, and 
other excrescences on the skin. Indelible or per- 
manent marking ink, used for marking linen, is 



LESSON XXXIV. SILVER. 153 

made by dissolving nitrate of silver (lunar caustic) 
in water, and adding gum. The yellow color 
employed in porcelain painting is obtained from 
silver. 

Geological and Geographical situation of Silver. 

Silver is found native and as an ore, in mines 
and veins. America is the country richest in 
silver n^ines. It is also found in Saxony, Bohe- 
mia, Norway, Hungary, and England ; but the 
mines of Mexico and Peru furnish annually ten 
times more than all those of Europe together. So 
poisonous are the exhalations from the mines of 
Peru, that many thousands of Indians have perish- 
ed in them, and the cattle that graze on the out- 
side are affected by their malignant vapors. The 
quantity found in England is not great ; it is 
taken from the lead mines of Cumberland, Corn- 
wall, and Yorkshire. A large block was found 
at Freyburg in Saxony, upon which Duke Albert 
took his dinner. When melted, it yielded 44,000 
pounds of pure silver. 

The ores of silver are very numerous, and va- 
rious methods are employed in different countries 
to separate it from the ore. In Mexico and Peru 
the mineral is pounded, roasted, washed, and 
then mixed with mercury, in vessels filled with 
water, a mill being employed for the purpose 
of more perfectly agitating it, which thus causes 
them to combine. The silver unites with the 
mercury, and being submitted to heat, the latter 
is evaporated. The pure metal is then melted 
and cast into bars or ingots. 



154 FIFTH SERIES. 

LESSON XXXV. 

QUICKSILVER OR MERCURY. 

Qualities. 

It is heavy. 1. 
fluid. 2. 
cold. 3. 
divisible. 4. 
^volatile when heated, 
white. 

brilliant. 5. 
opaque. 

least tenacious of all bodies, 
dilatable by heat, 
medicinal, 
natural, 
inanimate, 
mineral. 

1. "Weight." Nearly fourteen times heavier 
than water — the heaviest known fluid. 

2. "Fluid." It always retains its fluidity in 
our temperature, but in countries near the poles 
it congeals, and then is malleable, ductile and 
tenacious. 

3. " Cold." It is the coldest of all fluids, and 
the hottest when boiling. 

«i 

* Volatile, from Laf. Volare, to fly. 



LESSON XXXV. QUICKSILVER. 155 

4. It is capable of division, by the slightest 
eflbit, into an indefinite number of particles, each 
of a spherical shape. 

5. The brilliancy of metals is so peculiar and 
great, that it is called the metallic lustre. 



Uses of Quicksilver. 

Quicksilver penetrates and softens other metals, 
losing its own fluidity and forming a kind of paste 
called an Amalgam. This affinity or attraction 
that it has for the other metals makes it exceed- 
ingly useful in separating them from substances 
with which they are found combined ; they leave 
these to unite with the mercury, and this being 
volatilized, the pure metal remains. It is easily 
affected by the atmosphere, and is on this account 
used in Thermometers and Barometers.* The 
Thermometer is an instrument constructed in the 
following manner: — a tube of glass terminating 
in a hollow ball which contains mercury, is 
plunged into boiling water, which causes the 
mercury to expand and rise to a certain height. 
At this point, w^hich is called boiling heat, the 
tube is broken off and hermetically sealed ;f the 

* Barometer from (iapog (haros) weight and iitrpov (metron) 
a measure. Thermometer from &£p[xos {hot). 

t In order to seal any thing hermetically, the neck of a 
glass tube is heated till on the point of melting, an-i then with 
a pair of hot pincers it is closely twisted together, by which 
means the air is excluded. Hermetically is derived from 
Hermes, a name of Mercury, the deity of ancient mythology' 
who was thought to preside over the arts, particularly chem- 
istry. 



156 FIFTH SERIES. 

freezing point is then ascertained, and marked, 
and the intervening space graduated. The Ther- 
mometer, by thus marking the expansion and 
contraction of the quicksilver, indicates the in- 
crease and decrease of heat and cold in the at- 
mosphere. 

To form the Barometer a glass tube open at 
one end, and filled with quicksilver, is immersed 
in a bowl containing some of the same fluid. 
Part of the mercury in the tube flows into the 
cup, leaving a space to which the air cannot gain 
access, consequently there is a vacuum. The at- 
mosphere, when heavy, acts upon the mercury in 
the bowl, causing it to rise in tlie tube, and when 
light, the pressure being removed, allowing it to 
descend. The Barometer, by thus showing the 
weight of the air, indicates the probability of wet 
or dry weather. For when the atmosphere is 
light, it no longer supports the vapor and clouds 
which float in it, and they consequently descend 
towards the earth ; but when the air is more 
dense, they are borne up, and we have fine 
weather. The elevation of mountains is also as- 
certained by means of the Barometer, for as it is 
known that the rarity of the atmosphere increases 
in proportion to the ascent, the height is easily 
calculated. 

Quicksilver is also used for coating mirrors. 
This process is eflected in the following manner : 
a sheet of tin foil the size of the plate of glass 
is placed evenly on a smooth block of stone; 
over this is poured some quicksilver, which is 
carefully spread upon it with a feather or rubber 
of linen. Tin in amalgamating with mercury 
quickly forms an oxide of a black appearance ; 



LESSON XXXV. dUICKSILVER. 157 

this being removed, more of the fluid is poured 
upon it. The glass is then held horizontally, and 
carefully slid over the amalgam, sweeping before 
it the superfluous mercury, and any more oxide 
that may have formed. Weights are then placed 
upon the glass, and after having remained several 
days, the mixture adheres firmly and forms the 
mirror. 

Vermilion, used in coloring sealing-wax, and 
the medicine called calomel, are preparations of 
this metal. 

Geographical and Geological situation of 
Mercury. 

Mercury is found in the native state in 
globules or drops in the cavities of mines ; but 
it is most frequently combined with sulphur, 
forming the mineral called cinnabar, which is of 
a red color. 

The quicksilver mines of Idrea are said to yield 
annually 100 tons ; those of Spain still more ; but 
the mines of Peru are the richest. 

The mines of Idrea were accidentally dis- 
covered about three hundred years since. That 
part of the country was then much inhabited by 
coopers ; and one of the men, when retiring from 
work in the evening, placed a new tub under 
a dropping spring, to try if it would hold water, 
and when he came in the morning he found it so 
heavy that he could scarcely move it. On 
examination, he found a shining ponderous fluid 
at the bottom, which proved to be quicksilver. 
When this circumstance was made known, a 
14 



158 FIFTH SERIES. 

society was formed to discover and work the mine 
from whence the mercury had issued. In some 
parts of the mine, it flows in small streams, so 
that in six hours jis much as thirty-six pounds 
have been collected. In other parts of the mine 
it is diffused in small globules. 



LESSON XXXVI. 

LEAD. 

Qualities. 

It is heavy. 1 

fusible. 2. 

bright, when first melted or cut. 

malleable. 

ductile. 

very soft. 3. 

pliable. 

livid, bluish gray. 

easily calcined, that is, reduced by 
heat to a friable substance. 

solid. 

sometimes amorphous. 

crystallized. 

opaque. 

mineral. 

tarnishes easily. 

inelastic. 

natural. 
It makes a gray streak on paper. 
It boils and evaporates at a great heat. 



LESSON XXX VI. ^LEAD. 159 

1. Weight — It is eleven times heavier than 
water ; rather heavier than silver. 

2. It melts at a much lower temperature than 
the other metals. 

S. It is the softest of all metals. 



Uses of Lead. 

The calx* of lead is the basis of many colors, 
which are obtained from it by different degrees 
of heat. Red lead and white lead, so much used 
in paints, are the calces of lead. They are 
soluble in oil, and are all very poisonous, and 
occasion the ill-health to which painters are sub- 
ject. Any acid will extract a poison from lead, 
and therefore the use of it should be avoided in 
culinary operations. It is employed in glazing 
and pottery. 

When rolled between iron cylinders to a re- 
quisite degree of thinness and uniformity, lead 
is employed to cover the roofs of houses and 
churches ; though, in case of fire, its melting is 
attended with much danger. It is also used for 
gutters and pipes of houses, and for cisterns and 
reservoirs for water, because it does not rust. 
Rust is occasioned by the oxygen uniting with a 
metal ; but the oxygen of the water having a 
greater affinity for hydrogen, its other constituent. 



* Calx is the dross formed on the surface of lead, when 
raelted. This name is now generally applied by chemists to 
those substances which have been reduced by burning to a 
friable state. The operation by which this effect is produced 
is called calcination. 



160 FIFTH SERIES. 

than for lead, it does not separate from the water 
to unite with this metal. 

The great softness of lead, and its being so 
easily fused, are the properties which have brought 
it so much into use. The persons who work it 
are called Plumbers, from the Latin, 'plumbum, 
lead. The solder they use as a cement is an 
alloy of lead and tin, in the proportion of two 
parts of the former to one of the latter. 

Great quantities of lead are consumed in 
making shot. The metal for this purpose is 
alloyed with arsenic, to render it more hard and 
brittle, and capable of assuming a perfectly 
spherical shape. Shot are formed by dropping 
the melted alloy into water, through an iron or 
copper frame, perforated with round holes, which 
are larger or smaller, according to the size the 
shot are required to be. Mixed w^th antimony, 
lead is used for printing-types; and, with tin and 
copper, it forms pewter. 



Geological and Geographical situation of Lead, 

Lead abounds in England, particularly in the 
counties of Derby, Northumberland, Somerset, 
Cornwall, and Devon, and in Wales. It is plenti- 
ful also in Scotland, Germany, France, and 
America. It is very much doubted whether it is 
ever found native; it occurs frequently combined 
with sulphur, when it is called galena. 

The lead mines of Missouri are perhaps the 
most important in the world. When the ore is 
brought out of the mine, it is sorted and washed, 



LESSON XXXVI. LEAD. 161 

to free it from dirt and rubbish ; it is then spread, 
and the best pieces are separated. After the ore, 
by picking and washing, has been sufficiently- 
cleansed from extraneous matter, it is roasted* in 
a kind of kiln, to free it from the sulphur usually 
combined with it. The next process is to mix it 
with a quantity of coke,f and submit it to the 
smelting furnace. In this there are tap-holes, and 
when the lead is melted these are opened, to allow 
it to run in a fluid state into an iron vessel. The 
dross which floats on its surface is skimmed off, 
and the metal is taken out by ladles, and poured 
into cast-iron moulds with round ends. It is then 
called pig-lead, and is fit for use. 



* Roasting is the process by which the volatile parts of an 
ore are evaporated. Smelling is that by which the pure metal 
is separated from the earthy particles combined with it in 
the ore. This is done by throwing the whole into a furnace, 
and mixing with it substances that will combine with the 
earthy parts ; the metal being the heaviest, falls to the 
bottom, and runs out by the proper openings, in its pure 
metallic state. 

t Coke is fuel, made- by burning pit-coal under earth, and 
quenching the cindere ; as charcoal is made with wood. 



14* 



162 FIFTH SERIES. 



LESSON XXXVII. 



COPPER. 

Qualities. 

It is heavy. 1. 
tenacious. 2. 
veiy sonorous. 3. 
fusible. 4. 
elastic. 5. 

capable of extreme divisibility, 
malleable, 
ductile, 
compact, 
opaque. 

orange brown color, 
mineral. 

sometimes crystallized, 
amorphous, 
brilliant, 
reflective, 
sapid, 
hard, 
odorous, 
solid, 
medicinal, 
easily corroded, 
useful. 



L2SS0N XXXVII. COPPER. 163 

1. " Weight." Copper is eight times heavier 
than water. 

2. " Tenacious." A wire one-tenth of an inch 
in thickness will support two hundred and ninety- 
nine pounds and a half without breaking. 

3. It is the most deeply sonorous of all metals. 

4. It is more easily fused than iron, but less so 
than gold or silver. 

5. It is the most elastic metal next to iron. 

6. A grain dissolved in an alkali will give a 
perceptible color to more than ^00,000 times its 
weight of water. 

Uses of Copper* 

The uses of copper are numerous and im- 
portant. When rolled into sheets between iron 
cylinders, it is used to cover the roofs of houses, 
especially arsenals and manufiictories, where there 
is liability to fire. The bottoms of ships are 
coppered, in order to make them sail faster and 
to prevent shell-fish from perforating the wood. 
Plates of copper are used for engravings ; which 
is done with a sharp instrument or by corroding 
them with aqua fortis.* The copper is covered 
with wax, and the design sketched upon it with 
a pointed instrument ; the aqua fortis reaches the 
copper just in those places where the wax has 
been removed by the sketching, and eats into it. 
Copper is much used for cooking utensils, but 
great care is necessary, for should any acid or 

* Aqua forlis (strong water) is nitric acid diluted with 
■water. 



164 FIFTH SERIES. 

even water be allowed to stand any time in the 
vessels, a poison is extracted ; but while boiling, 
this evil does not arise. It is customary, in order 
to prevent any danger, to line copper vessels with 
tin. Verdigris is a rust or oxide of copper, usually 
prepared from that metal by corroding it with 
vinegar. There is a large manufactory at Mont- 
pelier in France, where verdigris is prepared in 
the following manner : — copper plates and husks 
of grapes are placed alternately one upon another ; 
the latter speediJy corrodes the surface of the 
metal. The verdigris thus formed is scraped off 
as it collects on the copper ; it is afterwards dried 
and packed in casks or bags. It is chiefly em- 
ployed in dying, and is a most virulent poison. 
Copper is used in the manufactories of gunpowder, 
because it does not like iron give out sparks by 
collision. There are several alloys of copper. 
Brass is the most important : it is compounded of 
zinc and copper, in the proportion of three parts 
of the former to one of the latter. This is a very 
beautiful and useful substance ; it does not rust 
so easily as copper ; is more ductile than either 
that metal or iron, and is therefore used in the 
construction of musical and mathematical instru- 
ments, and in clock work. Sieves and blinds are 
woven of brass wire of extreme fineness. Brass 
is used boti* for purposes of ornament and use. 
Bronze and the metal of which cannon are made 
are alloys of copper with tin. Bell metal is three 
parts copper and one tin. 



LESSON XXXVII. COPPER. 165 

Geographical and Geological situation of Copper, 

Copper is found in Sweden, Saxony, America, 
and Great Britain. It was well known to the an- 
cients ; the Bible speaks of the workers of brass 
before the flood. 

It is found in a great variety of forms ; some- 
times in masses of pure metal, but more frequently 
combined with other substances, particularly sul- 
phur. The copper mines of Anglesea are very 
productive ; they are situated on the top of a 
mountain, and form an enormous cavity more than 
500 yards long, 100 broad, and 100 deep. The 
ore is obtained from the mine either by pick- 
axes or by blasting the rock with gunpowder. It 
is then broken with a hammer into small pieces, 
an operation which chiefly employs women and 
children. After this it is piled on a kiln, to the 
upper parts of which flues are attached, that com- 
municate with sulphur chambers. The kiln is 
covered, and the fibres lighted in different parts 
that the ore may undergo the process of roasting. 
The whole mass gradually kindles, and the sul- 
phur which is combined with the ore is expelled 
in fumes by the heat, and is conveyed through 
the flues to the sulphur chamber. This process 
occupies from three to ten months, according to 
the size of the kilns. When the operation is 
complete or tlie ore is freed from the sulphur, it 
is submitted to the smelting-houses, where, by the 
intense heat it undergoes, the pure metal is forced 
off in a fluid state. 



166 FIFTH SERIES. 



LESSON XXXVIIT. 



Qualities. 

It is elastic. 1. 
ductile. 2. 
heavy. 3. 
tenacious. 4. 
malleable, 
liable to rust. 5. 
sonorous, 
mineral, 
fusible, 
hard. 

very fusible, 
livid gray-color, 
bright, 
reflective, 
solid. 

susceptible of a high polish. 
cold. 

sometimes amorphous, 
crystallized. 

1. In the state of steel it is the most elastic 
of all metals. 

2. Iron is more ductile than gold ; it may be 
drawn into a wire as fine as the human hair. 



LESSON XXXVIII. IRON. 167 

3. It is the lightest of the common metals ex- 
cept tin ; between seven and eight times heavier 
than water. 

4. Most tenacious of the metals. A wire about 
one-tenth of an inch in diameter will support 550 
pounds without breaking. 

5. The air is composed of two ingredients, 
oxygen and nitrogen ; the former having a greater 
affinity for iron than for nitrogen, attaches itself 
to it, and then forms the oxide of iron, commonly 
called rust. 

Uses of Iron. 

Iron is the most useful of all the metals, and 
man very early became acquainted with its value. 
Moses speaks of furnaces of iron and of the ores 
from which it was extracted. By means of this 
metal the earth has been cultivated, houses and 
cities built, and without it few arts could be prac- 
tised. Iron is used in three states, cast iron, 
wrought iron, and steel. When reduced to a 
liquid by the action of the smelting-furnace, 
it is received in furrows made in a bed of 
sand : the larger m.asses which have flowed into 
the main furrows are called sows, the smaller yigs, 
of iron. In this state it takes the name of cast 
iron, and from the process it has undergone it is 
become extremely hard, and having lost its tena- 
city, it resists the hammer and the file, and is 
very brittle ; it is of a dark gray or blackish color. 
It is used for the backs of chimneys, grates, boil- 
ers, pipes, rail-roads and common cannon-balls. 

Cast iron is converted into wrought iron by a 
process called hlooming ; it is thrown into a fur- 



168 FIFTH SERIES. 

nace and kept melted by the fire produced by 
combustibles ; it remains in this situation for 
about two hours, a workman being continually 
employed in stirring it, until, notwithstanding the 
heat to which it is exposed, it acquires by degrees 
consistency and tenacity, and congeals into a 
mass which is now malleable. It is taken out of 
the furnace while hot, and violently beaten by a 
large hammer, worked by machinery ; in this 
manner it is formed into bars of iron. The value 
of wrought iron in machinery, and tools of all de- 
scriptions, is incalculable. 

Steel is prepared from wrought iron in the fol- 
lowing manner : the bars of iron are kept in con- 
tact with burning charcoal for several hours in 
earthen crucibles, from which the air is excluded. 
Steel, if heated to redness and then suffered to 
cool slowly, becomes soft and pliable ; if plunged 
while hot into cold water, it is rendered suscepti- 
ble of a high polish, and acquires such extreme 
hardness as even to scratch glass, while at the 
same time it becomes elastic and brittle. Its soft- 
ness and ductility may however be restored by 
heating it again and cooling it slowly. Steel va- 
ries in color under the influence of heat ; first it 
assumes a straw color, then a light yellow, purple, 
violet, red ; deep blue succeeds, and last of all a 
bright blue. These hues indicate the different 
tempers which steel acquires, from that proper for 
common files, to that requisite for the finely 
elastic spring of watches. Steel is used for all 
kinds of edged tools, in which keenness is neces- 
sary ; it is also much employed for ornamental pur- 
poses, on account of the elegant polish which it 
is capable of taking. In medicine steel is valua- 



LESSON XXXVIII. IRON. 1G9 

ble as a tonic. Waters which pass over iron and 
become impregnated with it, are called chalybeate 
waters : those of Tunbridge and Ilampstead are of 
this nature. Steel is a combination of iron, and 
a small portion of carbon. Cast iron contains a 
greater proportion of carbon, and is probably sat- 
urated with it. Cast iron is converted into 
wrought iron, by burning away the carbon, and 
wholly depriving it of its oxygen. 

Plumbago or black lead, which is employed in 
the manufacture of pencils, is an ore of iron, con- 
taining nine parts of carbon to one of the metal : 
sufficient is found in Cumberland to supply the 
trade of England. The bronze color used in 
Porcelain painting is an oxide of iron. Meteoric 
stones, which have been the subject of so much 
conjecture, and which are now generally believed 
to be ejected from volcanoes in the moon, are a 
species of iron ore. 

Iron is very valuable from the magnetical prop- 
erties it may acquire. By these it enables the 
mariner to steer across the ocean, the traveller to 
direct his course with safety in the pathless desert, 
and the miner to guide his researches after sub- 
terraneous treasures. The loadstone or natural 
magnet, is an oxide of iron ; it communicates its 
powers to bars of iron or steel, when placed in 
contact with them. The artificial magnet is now 
always used ; as it possesses and retains all the 
properties of the loadstone. The qualities which 
render it useful, are 1st, its attracting iron, and 
2d, its polarity, or the power by which it points 
to the poles when freely suspended. One end in- 
variably turns to the North, and the other to the 
South, except when it approaches the pole, when 
15 



170 FIFTH SERIES. 

the directive power ceases altogether, which cir- 
cumstance constitutes one of the great difficulties 
in navigating the Arctic Regions. 

The opposite poles when presented to each 
other, are attracted at one end and mutually re- 
pelled at the other. 

The mariner's compass is a circular box, in 
which a magnetic needle is placed in such a man- 
ner that it can move in every direction. 

Geological and Geographical situation of Iron, 

Iron is the most universally diffused of the 
metals. It is everywhere produced in greater or 
less quantities ; but England, France, Sweden, 
and Russia, are richer in this metal than the other 
countries of Europe. It is very rarely if ever 
found in a native state, but generally as an oxide, 
or in combination with Sulphuric or Carbonic 
Acid. 



LESSON XXXIX. 

TIN. 

Qualities* 

It is heavy. 1. 
soft. 2. 
malleable. 3. 
ductile, 
fusible, 
white. 



LESSON XXXIX. TIN. 171 

It is opaque, 
solid, 
brilliant. 

very little elastic, 
useful, 
pliable. 

easily calcined, 
natural, 
mineral, 
reflective. 

sonorous, making a crackling noise, 
dilatable by heat. 

1. It is seven times heavier than water, though 
lightest of the ductile metals. 

2. It is softer than silver, but harder than 
lead. 

3. Tin may be beaten into sheets the 1000th 
part of an inch in thickness. 

Uses of Tin. 

Tin is chiefly employed in the manufacture of 
culinary utensils ; they are not however made 
of solid tin, but of what is called tin, plate, which 
is thus prepared. Thin iron plates are first 
cleansed completely, by washing them in water 
and sand ; they are then dipped into melted tin, 
afterwards steeped in water mixed with sulphuric 
acid. This process causes the tin not only to 
cover the surface of the iron plate, but to pene- 
trate it so that the whole mass becomes of a 
whitish color. Pins are made of brass wire 
tinned. When the pin is formed, a vessel is filled 
with strata or layers of tin plates between the 



172 FIFTH SERIES. h 

brass pins ; the vessel is then filled with water and | 
some tartaric acid, by means of which the tin is 
dissolved, and after five or six hours' boihng, the 
pins are found uniformly tinned. It is the zinc 
of the brass which has an affinity for the tin, and 
forms the union which takes place. The pins are 
afterwards polished, by throwing them into a tub 
containing a quantity of bran, which is set in 
motion by turning a shaft that runs through its 
centre, and by means of friction they become 
perfectly bright. The uses of tin in economical 
purposes are very various, particularly when laid 
over other metals, as in stirrups, buckles, &;c. 
The oxide of tin is used in dying. 

Tin forms alloys with several other metals. 
These compounds have been mentioned before ; 
as bell-metal, pewter, bronze. Tin leaves amal- 
gamated with mercury, are used for silvering and 
plating other metals. 

GeograpJiical and Geological situation of Tin* 

Native Tin is never found, and its ore is of less 
common occurrence than that of iron. England, 
Germany, Chili, and Mexico, produce the largest 
quantity of this metal. The tin mines of Corn- 
wall were well known to the ancients ; and the 
Phenicians traded with the Britons for it long 
before the birth of our Savior. It is always found 
as an oxide, or mixed with sulphur and copper. 
It occurs chiefly in veins running through granite 
and other rocks. When it is taken from the mine, 
it is broken into small pieces, and streams of 
water passed over it, to free it from the earthy 
particles with which it is intermixed ; it is then 



LESSON XL. COMPARISON OF METALS. 173 

roasted and smelted, when the metal is poured 
out into quadrangular moulds of stone, and re- 
ceives the name of block tin. 



LESSON XL. 



C03IPARIS0N OF METALS. 

Gold, a perfect metal, is the most precious. 

most compact. 

heaviest. 
Its weight is between nineteen and twenty times 
that of water. 

Silver, a perfect metal, is next in value to gold 
and more useful ; its weight is between ten and 
eleven times that of water. 

Quicksilver is fluid. 

easily volatilized. 

immallcable. 
Its weight is between thirteen and fourteen times 
that of water. 

Copper is the most sonorous. 

elastic except iron. 
Its weight is between eight and nine times that 
of water. 

Iron is the most elastic. 

tenacious, 
useful. 
du(?tile. 
Its weight is between seven and eight times that 
of water. 

Mo 



174 FIFTH SERIES. 

Lead is the softest. 

most easily fused. 
Its weight is between eleven and twelve times 
that of water. 

Tin, next to lead, is the softest of the metals ; 
it dilates most by heat; it is the lightest, its 
weight being only seven times that of water. 



LESSON XLL 



ON METALS IN GENERAL. 

Metals are simple elementary ^ bodies, distin- 
guished by being heavier than all other sub- 
stances, — by possessing a peculiar lustre which 
is called the metallic lustre — by reflecting light 
and heat, — by their being opaque, fusible, malle- 
able, tenacious, ductile, and generally elastic. 
Upon this last quality seems to depend their fit- 
ness for exciting sound, or sonorousness. Metals 
are capable of uniting with one another in a state 
of fusion; this union is called an alloy. It is 
remarkable that by these combinations, metals 
undergo a considerable change in their properties, 
and acquire new ones not belonging to either of 
them when not united. Thus the weight of the 
alloy, or the two metals in combination, is some- 
times very different from the weight of both the 
metals taken separately : an alloy of silver with 
copper or tin, or one of silver or gold with lead, 
is heavier than the same quantities of those 
metals uncombincd. Their ductility and malle- 
ability are changed and generally impaired, the 



I 



LESSON XLI. ON METALS IN GENERAL. 175 

alloy becoming brittle. This is very remarkably 
the case with gold and lead, when united, the 
latter of which even in the trivial proportion of 
half a grain to an ounce of gold, renders the mass 
quite destitute of tenacity. 

The hardness of metals is varied by combina- 
tion. Gold, by combination with a small quantity 
of copper, and silver, by a minute proportion of 
the same metal, acquire such an increase of hard- 
ness, that these additions are always made to gold 
or silver which is to be exposed to wear. By a 
small addition of gold, iron is said to gain so 
much hardness, as to be even superior to steel 
for the fabrication of cutting instruments. 

Change of color is a common effect of the union 
of metals with each other. Arsenic, for example, 
which resembles steel, and copper, which has a 
red color, afford by their union a compound, which 
has nearly the whiteness of silver. 

In order to ascertain how far the children had 
retained the knowledge communicated to them 
in these lessons, the following questions were 
given them to answer in writing. 



170 FIFTH SERIES. 



QUESTIONS ON THE METALS. 



GOLD. 

1. What are the chief qualities of gold? 

2. What is its weight? 

3. Give a proof of its ductility. 
4* tenacity. 

5. malleability. 

6. Upon what other quality docs its malleability 
depend ? 

7. What qualities are directly opposed to 
malleability ? 

8. What is an alloy ? 

9. Why is gold alloyed for the purpose of 
coinage? 

10. What metal is used as its alloy? 

11. How are buttons gilt? 

12. Describe the manner of forming leaf gold. 

13. In what states is gold found? 

14. What is an ore? 

15. What is meant by a native metal ? 

16. In what countries is gold found? 

17. What people employ themselves in sepa- 
rating it from the sands of the European rivers? 

SILVER. 

1. What are the chief properties of silver? 

2. What is its weight? 



QUESTIONS ON THE METALS. 177 

3. What degree of tenacity does it possess ? 

4. What are the chief uses of silver ? 

5. Upon what qualities do the uses of silver 
depend 1 

6. Describe the operation of plating. 

7. What is lunar caustic ? and what are its 
uses? 

8. Give a geographical and geological account 
of silver? 

9. Why are gold and silver called perfect 
metals ? 



aUICKSILVEH. 

1. What are the uses and properties of quick- 
silver ? 

2. What is its weight? 

3. In what respect is it remarkable as a liquid ? 

4. What effect does heat produce upon it? 

5. Under what circumstances does a change in 
its qualities take place? and what is the change? 

6. What is an amalgam ? 

7. Mention the uses of quicksilver. 

8. What are the properties that fit it for a 
barometer ? 

9. What for a thermometer? 

10. How is a barometer made? and what is 
its use ? 

11. How is a thermometer made? and what is 
its use ? 

12. What color is obtained from quicksilver? 

13. Where is quicksilver found? 

13. What circumstance led to the discovery of 
the mines of Idria ? 



178 FIFTH SERIES. 



1. What are the remarkable qualities of lead? 

2. What is its weight 1 

3. What are the different effects of heat upon 
lead? 

4. What are the chief uses of lead ? 

5. Why is it used for reservoirs of water ? 

6. How are shot made ? 

7. What is the use of the oxides of lead? 

8. What are its alloys ? 

9. In what state is lead found ? 

10. What is lead called when found united 
with sulphur. 

11. Where is lead most abtmdant? 

12. Describe the process of roasting and 
smelting. 

COPPER. 

1. What are the chief qualities of copper? 

2. What is its weight and degree of tenacity ? 

3. How is it proved to be capable of extreme 
divisibility? 

4. What are the uses of copper ? 

5. What is verdigris? and how is it made? 

6. What is the danger incurred by employing 
copper in kitchen utensils? 

7. What are the alloys of copper ? 

8. In what respect is brass preferable to 
copper ? 

9. Where is copper found, and in what states ? 

10. Describe the copper mines in Anglesea, 
and the manner of extracting the metal from the 



QUESTIONS ON THE METALS. 179 



1. What are the chief qualities of iron? 

2. What quality does it possess in a higher 
degree than any other metall 

3. What is its weight and tenacity ? 

4. What are the different states in which iron 
is used ? 

5. How is cast iron prepared ? 

6. What are its qualities and uses ? 

7. How is wrought iron prepared ? 

8. What are its qualities and uses 1 

9. How is steel prepared 1 

10. What are its qualities and uses? 

11. What is meant by the temper of steel? 

12. What is plumbago ? and what quality makes 
it useful? 

13. What is the geographical situation of iron? 
and in what state is it found ? 



TIN. 

1. What are the chief qualities of tin? 

2. What are the uses of tin ? 

3. How is it prepared for use ? 

4. How are pins tinned ? 

5. What is block tin ? 



180 FIFTH SERIES. 



ON EARTHS. 

LESSON XLII. 

LIME. 

The substance called Lime is never found pure 
in nature, owing to its great affinity for carbonic 
acid* and water. All the earths of which lime 
forms the basis are called calcareous^ from calx, 
the Latin for lime. It is the most universally 
diffused of all substances, and one of the most 
abundant ; it is computed that it constitutes one 
eighth of the crust of the earth. In this dis- 
tribution we have great cause to admire the 
gracious providence of our Heavenly Father, 
as the utility of lime in various arts, in agriculture, 
in manufactures, and in medicine, is very great. 
Lime united with carbonic acid in different pro- 
portions, forms common lime-stone, chalk, marble, 
&c. ; with sulphuric acid, it constitutes gypsum 
or alabaster ; and with fluoric acid, fluor or 
Derbyshire spar. These are its most interesting 
combinations with mineral substances. It enters 
also into the composition of animal matter, as 
shells, bones, and the hard coverings of insects ; 

* Carbon is charcoal in its purest state; it is most 
abundant in the vegetable kingdom, and is chiefly obtained 
from wood. United with oxygen, it forms carbonic acid. 



LESSON XLII. LniE. 181 

our bones contain 80 parts in 100 lime ; and the 
egg-shells of birds, 9 parts in 10. 

Pure lime is procured from chalk, or limestone, 
by means of burning. For this purpose alternate 
layers of calcareous earth and fuel are arranged 
in a kiln ; a fire being kindled, the carbonic acid 
and water become volatilized, and are driven off, 
leaving the lime pure. In this state it is called 
quick-lime, and is white, caustic, acrid, pungent, 
infusible ; corroding and destroying animal mat- 
ter. When w^ater is poured upon it, it swells, 
falls into a powder, and gives out great heat. 
This last operation is called slacHng the lime. 
The water combining with the lime becomes 
solid, and the heat is occasioned by its changing 
from a fluid to a solid state, for in doing this it 
parts with its caloric. The uses of lime are 
numerous and important. It is formed into 
mortar, the cement used in building. The lime, 
being slacked, is made into a paste by tempering 
it with Vv'ater ; to this is added sand, and 
sometimes chopped hairs ; as it dries it becomes 
solid, hard, and durable. Examples have been 
known, of ouildings a thousand years old, in 
which the mortar is as hard as the stones which it 
unites. 

As a manure, lime is useful in loosening the 
tenacious nature of some soils, and rendering 
them more friable and receptive of vegetable 
fibres; it also facilitates the dissolution and 
putrefaction of animal and vegetable substances 
of which mould is chiefly composed, and gives it 
a power of acquiring and retaining moisture, so 
necessary to the growth of vegetables. Lime is 
16 



182 FIFTH SERIES. 

also employed in the manufacture of sugar, to 
deprive it of a portion of its acid. Tanners use 
it in removing hairs from the hides, and cleansing 
them from fat and grease. 

Carbonate of Lime. 

Lime occurs most frequently combined with 
carbonic acid in different proportions. The gen- 
eric term for these substances is Carbonate of 
Lime. They vary much in appearance, but all 
agree in the following properties ; they readily 
yield to the knife ; neutralize acids (the charac- 
teristic properties of each being destroyed ;) and 
have a weight two or three times greater than 
that of water. 

Limestone occurs in almost every country, and 
produces hills of some eminence ; it is very 
abundant in England ; it is used for making mor- 
tar, forming roads, &c. Difierent kinds of Lime- 
stone are used in building, as Portland stone, 
Bath stone Oolite. The former has been much 
employed in several of the principal buildings in 
London, as St. Paul's, the Monument, and some 
of the bridges. Some limestones are soft, when 
first taken from the quarry, but become hard 
when long exposed to the air. 

Calcareous spar is the purest carbonate of lime. 
It occurs both amorphous and crystallized, is 
transparent, shows a double refraction, or makes 
a small object seen through it, appear double, and 
takes the form of the rhombohedron, occurring m 
eight hundred varieties of this figure. Carbonate 
of lime is often found in stalactites, which are 
long pendulous masses. They are deposited 



LESSON XLII. LOIE. 183 

from water loaded with particles of carbonate of 
lime; this trickles through fissures in rocks, or 
crevices in the roofs of caverns, &c. The water 
evaporates, and the particles of lime gradually 
harden ; drop succeeds drop, till a long irregular 
tube is suspended of a most grotesque appearance. 
When carbonate of lime occurs of a very close- 
grained texture, it is caWed 7narble ,- being sus- 
ceptible of a high polish, it is much used for or- 
namental purposes, as chimney-pieces, pillars, 
and statuary. 

Chalk is another carbonate of lime, not so 
generally occurring as limetone, but very abun- 
dant in the south-eastern counties of England, 
along which it stretches in a continued line, 
forming its noted white cliffs, and passing over 
to France appears on the opposite coast. It forms 
hills of a moderate elevation, characterized by 
their gentle slopes and rounded summits, arising 
from this substance being of too soft a nature to 
resist the effects of the weather upon it. There 
are two beds of chalk, the upper one distinguish- 
ed by containing parallel horizontal layers of flint 
with many petrifactions ; and the lower being 
destitute of both. Chalk is white, dull, friable, 
meager to the touch, adheres to the tongue, is of 
an earthy fracture ; always amorphous, and opaque. 
It is usually dug from pits ; but in some parts of 
Kent they undermine the sides of the hill, then 
dig a trench which is filled with water, this soak- 
ing in, loosens the masses, which consequently 
fall. Most of the uses of chalk are nearly the 
same as those of limestone ; when freed from its 
coarser particles, it forms whiting. 

Water impregnated with calcareous substances, 



184 FIFTH SERIES. 

is occasionally deposited on vegetables, clothing 
them with a stony coat ; this incrustation is call- 
ed Tufa. 

Gypsum is a sulphate of lime : i. e. a combina- 
tion of sulphuric acid with lime. It is much 
softer than marble and more easily worked : it is 
sometimes of a beautiful transparent whiteness, 
when it is called alabaster, and is made into vases 
and other ornaments. The gypsum, which is 
veiy abundant in the neighborhood of Paris, is 
of a yellowish color. When heated it pulverizes, 
and water poured over it, is quickly absorbed, 
forming a paste which dries and hardens very 
rapidly. This is the Plaster of Paris so much 
used for casts, statues, &;c. When mixed w^ith 
glutinous substances, it forms stucco and plaster. 



LESSON XLIII. 



A large number of the rocks with which the 
earth abounds, and a great proportion of com- 
pound earthy substances and minerals, have silex 
for their chief ingredient. It seems to form the 
solid basis of the crust of the globe, giving firm- 
ness and durability to the mountains by which 
they have resisted the various revolutions that the 
earth has undergone. It is found in its greatest 
purity in roch-ci'ystal and qiiartz. It is the basis 
of almost all the mineral substances, which are 
sufficiently hard to strike fire with steel. These 
substances are called silicious, from the latin silex 
a flint, because flint is almost entirely composed 



LESSON XLIII. SILICA. 185 

of silicious earth. Silex forms a large portion of 
granite, enters in considerable proportion into the 
composition of slate ; it is also the substance 
which constitutes sand and generally the shingle 
of the sea-shore. It is very hard, striking fire 
with steel, and scratching glass ; it has neither 
taste nor smell ; when perfectly pure (in which 
state it is, however, never found in nature) it is 
infusible, but when heated with an alkali, it unites 
with it, melts and forms glass. In consequence 
of this property, silica has also been called vitrifi- 
able earth, from viti'um, the Latin for glass. It is 
not affected by any of the acids except the fluoric. 

Common sand is a granulated silex, generally 
of a white or yellow color. In the torrid regions 
of Africa and Asia there are immense tracts of 
desert covered only with sand so fine and dry as 
to be movable with the wind, and forming into 
waves like those of the sea. The wind sweeping 
the sand from the surface continually, the succes- 
sive waves form, mountains of sand. These are 
incessantly shifting, and often overwhelm the 
travelling caravans. Sand is of great utility. It 
enters into the composition of mortar. It pro- 
duces the vitrification of glass and porcelain, and 
its hardness has caused it to be much used in 
scouring kitchen utensils. In agriculture, it is 
valued as a manure ; it gives lightness to clayish 
and heavy soils, and assists in the work of filtra- 
tion. 

Sandstone is formed of grains of silex cemented 
together, producing a solid rock, though of a very 
friable nature. 

Common flint contains of silica ninety-seven 
parts in one hundred. It is generally of a grayish 
16* 



186 FIFTH SERIES. 

color, approaching often to black, it is opaque, 
but translucent at its edges. It strikes fire by 
collision, and is on this account used in gun-locks. 
From its being one of the hardest substances in 
nature, it is often taken as an emblem of moral 
hardness. It is found principally in beds or strata 
in chalk formations. It is used in the manu- 
facture of glass and porcelain, in the construction 
of buildings and walls, and it also forms excellent 
roads. 

LESSON XLIV. 

ALUMINE OR ARGIL. 

This substance obtained the name of Alumine, 
from its forming the base of common alum, and 
argil, from the Latin argilla, clay, on account of 
its being the constituent of all clays, which are 
therefore termed argillaceovs earths. Their dis- 
tinguishing qualities are, that they have an earthy 
texture, give out a peculiar odor when breathed 
upon, which has been thence called the argilla- 
ceous odor; they adhere to the tongue ; are never 
found crystallized, but sometimes slaty; are gen- 
erally opaque, and their weight is about twice as 
great as that of water. When tempered with 
water, most argillaceous substances become soft, 
tenacious, and plastic,* but shrink and harden by 
the application of heat. Alumine is never found 
pure in nature : it is considered to be the most 
plentiful earth next to silex. 



* Plastic, from -KXaaata (plasso) to form, means here, easily 
moulded into various forms. 



LESSON LXIV. ARGIL. 187 

Common clay is a nearly equal admixture of 
alumine and silex : it is found in most countries, 
and is very valuable in various arts ; for these it 
is peculiarly fitted, as it may be moulded into 
any form, which it retains unchanged after ex- 
posure to heat. The beds of lakes, ponds, and 
springs, are almost entirely of clay : instead of 
allowing the filtration of water, as sand does, it 
forms an impenetrable bottom, and by this means 
water is accumulated in the caverns of the earth, 
producing those natural reservoirs, whence springs 
issue and spout out at the surface. Clayey soils 
in consequence of their absorbing and retaining 
moisture are heavy and sticky. Clay is often 
used by the poorest classes of society in forming 
their mud cottages. Loam is an argillaceous 
substance, containing a great proportion of sand, 
and is generally found upon a bed of sand. It is 
the substance of which bricks and tiles are con- 
structed ; when well baked in a kiln, or in the 
sun, it becomes very hard and durable. A proof 
of this is furnished in the existence at the present 
day of those mighty Egyptian Pyramids, which 
are generally supposed to have been the w^ork of 
the Israelites in their bondage. 

Porcelain clay is that employed in our china 
manufactories ; it absorbs moisture rapidly, and 
becomes very tenacious when kneaded. It is 
distinguished from other clays by the fineness of 
its texture, its friability and meager touch. A 
coarser kind called Potters' clay, is used in the 
making of common eathern ware. 

Another description of clay is called Pipe clay 
from its being used in the manufacture of pipes 
it is very plastic, and is cast in a cylindrical 



188 FIFTH SERIES. 

mould, a wire being afterwards run through it to 
form the hollow through which the fumes of the 
tobacco are inhaled ; when baked it becomes 
hard and white. This clay is also used in ex- 
tracting grease out of different substances. Ful- 
lers^ earth is another argillaceous substance simi- 
larly employed. 

The soil or mould which covers our fields and 
gardens, contains more or less of these three 
substances, alumine, silica, or lime. They occur 
in very different proportions; the best soils are 
those which are a mixture of all, for they correct 
and keep within their due proportion the qualities 
of each other ; thus in a clayey soil, filtration is 
carried on by means of sand, while clay on the 
other hand gives consistency to a sandy soil, and 
lime loosens the texture of heavy lands, and 
corrects the coldness which the retaining of water 
occasions. How beautifully may we thus trace 
through nature, contending and opposite qualities 
working together to form an harmonious whole. 
The fertilizing property of our soils, however, 
greatly depends upon the admixture of decayed 
animal and vegetable matter. 



aUESTIONS ON THE EAKTHS. 1S9 



QUESTIONS ON THE EARTHS. 



LBIE. 

1. Why is lime never found pure in nature? 

2. What name is given to the substances con- 
taining lime, and from what is the name derived? 

3. Name the various minerals of which lime 
forms a principal part. 

4. From what substance is pure lime generally 
procured ? 

5. Describe the process. 

6. What is the operation of slacking lime, and 
the effect produced ? 

7. Name the different uses of lime, with the 
properties that fit it for those uses. 

8. What is a carbonate of lime ? 

9. Mention the diflerent carbonates of lime. 

10. What qualities do they all possess? 

11. Describe the calcareous spar. 

12. What are stalactites? describe their forma- 
tion. 

13. What is marble, and how used ? 

14. Describe chalk, its situation, qualities, and 
appearances. 

15. What is calcareous tufa? 

16. Name the limestones used in building. 

17. What is gypsum, its qualities, and uses ? 



190 FIFTH SERIES. 



SILICA. 



1. In what minerals is silica found in the 
greatest purity ? 

2. Why was it called silica ? 

2. What are the earths called that contain 
silica ? 

4. What other name is sometimes given to 
them, and why ? 

5. What are the distinguishing qualities of 
silicious earths ? 

6. What are their chief uses ? 

7. What is sand ? 

■ 8. Where does it abound, and to what misfor- 
tune are those liable who travel in the countries 
where it abounds ? 

9. Describe common flint, and name its uses. 

10. In what geological situation is it found? 

ALUMINE OR ARGIL. 

1. Why is clay called argil ? why alumine? 

2. What are the distinguishing qualities ol 
alumine ? 

3. What qualities render it so useful in the 
arts? 

4. Name the different argillaceous earths. 

5. Name their various uses. 

6. What is loam, its situation and uses ? 

7. How is porcelain clay distinguished? 

8. What clay is used in the manufacture of 
common earthenware, and how does it differ from 
porcelain clay ? 



LESSON XLV. COAL. 191 

9. What clay is used in the manufacture of 
pipes, and how are they made ? 

10. What clays are used for extracting grease ? 

11. Why are clays used for the bottoms of 
lakes, canals, &:c. ? 

12. What kind of soil does clay form ? 



LESSON XLV. 

COAL. 

Coal may be considered as a mineral, both from 
its subterraneous situation, and the qualities which 
it possesses ; many circumstances however justify 
the now prevalent opinion that it is of vegeta*ble 
origin ; the following are perhaps the most con- 
vincing. Carbon, which is the chief constituent 
of all vegetable matter, particularly wood, com- 
poses three-fourths of this substance. Coal is 
also found in the various stages of mineralization. 
Sometimes it possesses a completely fibrous tex- 
ture and ligneous appearance, even the knots of 
wood being discernible, whilst the same bed pro- 
duces specimens of perfect mineral coal. That 
which preserves most distinctly the character of 
wood, is found at Bovey near Exeter. 

In confirmation of this opinion is the fact, that 
in Ireland a standing forest has been discovered 
at the depth of one hundred feet below the soil. 
To this we may add the inflammability of this 
substance, the numerous vegetable remains and 
impressions that accompany it, and that it has 
never been discovered above the line to which 



192 FIFTH SERIES. 

vegetation reaches. It is of a black color, bright, 
and frequently iridescent,* the structure is slaty ; 
it occurs always amorphous ; it is very combusti- 
ble, a quality which few minerals possess. The 
places from whence it is taken, are called coal 
mines; they abound in many parts of England, 
and have mainly contributed to the wealth of our 
country. Both the persons employed in the 
mines, and the vessels w^hich transport the coals, 
are called colliers ; the place where the trade is 
carried on, a colliery. The access to coal mines 
is generally through a narrow, perpendicular tun- 
nel, called a shc^t, up which the w^orkmen and 
coals are drawn by machinery. The mines at 
Whitehaven are some of the most extraordinary 
in the world. The principal entrance is by an 
opening at the bottom of a hill through a long 
sloping passage, which is hewn in the rock, and 
leads to the lowest vein or bed of coal : the de- 
scent is chiefly through spacious galleries inter- 
secting each other, formed by the excavation of 
the coal, large pillars of which only are left to 
support the ponderous roof. These mines are 
very deep, and are extended under the bed of the 
sea, even to where the depth of the Avater is suf- 
ficiently great to admit ships of burden. In these 
mines there are three strata of coal which lie 
considerably apart from one another, and are 
made to communicate by pits. Miners are fre- 
quently impeded in their progress by veins of 
hard rocks called dykes, and the eoal is seldom 
found in a direct line en the other side of them; 

* Iridescent, exhibiting a variety of colors like the rainbow 
from Greek iptSo^ (iridos) of a rainbow. 



LESSON XLV. COAL. 193 

to ascertain its precise situation is often a work 
of considerable labor and expense. Coal is gen- 
erally situated at the foot of mountains, and in 
hollows which vary much in extent : it rarely 
lies much above the level of the sea. 

Several dangers attend the labors of miners; 
the greatest is that arising from fire damp; 
which is occasioned by the hydrogen gas or in- 
flammable air, produced in the mine, and which 
when mixed with atmospheric air, explodes with 
great violence if brought into contact with any 
lighted substance. To avoid this danger, safety- 
lamps are used, v\^hich were invented by Sir 
Humphry Davy. They are of a very simple 
<;onstruction, consisting of wire gauze, so closely 
interwoven as to prevent a sufficient quantity of 
the gas from entering, and thus causing ignition. 
Another danger arises from the formation of car- 
bonic acid gas or fixed air, which, being heavier 
than the common air, occupies the lower part of 
mines, and occasions death by suffocation. 

Coal is used to raise the temperature of rooms, 
to cook food, to supply the fuel for manufactories, 
(particularly where steam is required) and in the 
working of metals. It is one of the substances 
from which gas is procured : when this has been 
extracted from the coal, the residue is called 
coke, which is employed where intense heat is 
requisite. Coal abounds in various parts of the 
United States, particularly on the banks of the 
Lehigh and Schuylkill rivers, in Pennsylvania. 



17 



194 FIFTH SERIES. 

LESSON XLVI. 

GRANITE. 

Granite is a compound rock, formed by an ag- 
gregation of the grains of quartz, felspar, and mi- 
ca. The proportions in which these component 
parts occur, vary much. Felspar is the predomi- 
nating, as mica is the least considerable of these 
ingredients. The grains are also of different 
magnitudes ; when they are large, the granite is 
of a very coarse texture ; but sometimes they are 
so small, as almost to give the appearance of a 
uniform mass. These circumstances occasion a 
great variety in the character of granite. When 
hornblende occurs in the place of mica, the rock 
is called Sienite. Some felspar is liable to de. 
composition, and when this is the prevailing sub- 
stance in the rocks, they yield to the effects of 
the weather, and become more or less of a rounded 
form : but when the granite is hard and close- 
grained, which is more usually the case, they rise 
in bold prominent peaks, giving grandeur and 
boldness to the scenery. Granite is found in most 
countries where there are mountains of any con- 
siderable elevation. It forms the lofty Grampian 
Hills in Scotland ; and the logan or rocking stones 
of Cornwall are immense blocks of this material. 
Granite is valuable on account of its great hard- 
ness and durability, is used for mill-stones, troughs, 
and steps, the streets of London are paved with it, 
and it is employed in architecture. Waterloo 
Bridge, one of the finest specimens of art, is con» 
etructed of granite. 



LESSON XLVII. SALT. 195 



LESSON XLVII. 



Salt is a mineral substance, beautifully white, 
sparkling, and crystalline ; it is soluble, fusible, 
granulous, and of a saline flavor. There are 
several varieties of this useful mineral which are 
distinguished by the different situations in which 
they are found. The principal are sea-salt, called 
also bay-salt, which is produced from the ocean ; 
the best comes from Portugal : salt drawn from 
brine springs : and rock salt, which is dug out of . 
the earth. Amongst the most extensive salt mines 
hitherto discovered, are those at Wielizka, a pic- 
turesque little town situated on the sides of a 
gentle valley, about eight miles from Cracow, the 
chief city of Poland. The traveller who visits 
these subterraneous deposits of salt, being fur- 
nished with a guide and two lamp-bearers, is let 
down a shaft of about 150 feet by a rope. At the 
depth of 90 feet he arrives at the rock of pure 
salt of a dingy soot color, here and there glistening 
by the light of the lamps. The swing is now aban- 
doned, and the ear is assailed by the busy sound 
of spades, mattocks, and wheelbarrows, in every 
direction. This is the -first foor of a large cavern 
containing in different parts the stable, and 
twenty horses, quantities of salt, some in bare 
masses, some in casks ready to be hoisted to the 
surface, stores of implements for the miners, &;c. 
This excavation is about 100 feet long and 80 



196 FIFTH SERIES. 

broad, (beside the stable,) and about 20 feet high. 
From hence a long gallery 12 feet high by eight 
broad leads towards the interior of the mine, 
while lateral avenues branch off in various direc- 
tions, each named after some Austrian prince or 
princess, and resembling more in appearance the 
avenues of some subterraneous palace, than the 
passages of a mine. A flight of steps conducts 
down another 100 feet to the second foor ; in this 
descent the bed of salt is interrupted by a narrow 
stratum of pure clay, sometimes by a mixture of 
salt, and the same earth ; these strata are in 
places very curiously curved, as though a rolling 
wave had been arrested in its course and preserved 
in its original form. The miners are here found 
at work, some hewing pillars of salt from the rock, 
some cutting them into masses for home con- 
sumption, and some stowing the masses in barrels 
for exportation. The cavern on this floor is 
rather smaller than the first : it consists of one 
spacious hall, and has no pillar to support the 
roof. 

Proceeding on this subterraneous journey, the 
traveller arives at a wooden platform, from whence 
he looks down upon an abyss,nvhich the simple 
lights of the conductors fail to illuminate, though 
the spars of the mineral reflecting the rays of 
light, produce a novel and beautiful effect. 
When princes or other great personages visit the 
mines, a chandelier of crystal salt, which hangs 
in the centre, is furnished with 150 lights, and 
displays a stupendous cavern, having the appear- 
ance of a castle in ruins ; at the bottom are some 
rows of seats rising like the benches of a theatre, 
opposite to which is an orchestra ; here on grand 



LESSON XLVII. SALT. 197 

occasions a small band play a few airs of slow and 
simple music, which has a most singular effect 
in harmony with the surrounding scene. Long 
galleries and flights of steps, all spacious enough 
to allow free course to the fresh air, lead deeper 
and deeper in the saline rock ; the scene now 
and then varied by a cavern full of workmen, and 
some along the galleries wheeling their little 
carts full of salt, each with its lamp in front. On 
the fourth foor there is a little subterraneous 
lake, about 80 feet long and 40 broad, over which 
illustrious personages are ferried on rafts of fir 
logs, .lighted by numerous flambeaux. Here ter- 
minates the bed of green salt, the most common 
sort and easiest to be cut. That next to it is 
called spisa salt, which is harder and more close 
grained, and next succeeds a white and finer 
grained variety. This part of the mine is 700 
feet below the surface of the earth ; 300 feet be- 
neath this lies the finest crystal salt, which is 
reached by long flights of steps and inclined 
planes. The cavern in which it is found is suf- 
ficiently spacious for a regiment of soldiers to 
perform their manoeuvres in it. This is the deep- 
est part of the mine : the air is quite pure, rather 
cooler than that of the open day, but much 
warmer than it is about half-way down. The re- 
turn is through a different series of corridors and 
caverns. On tlie third floor is a simple tomb of 
salt with the name of the late Emperor of Austria 
inscribed with letters of wood neatly gilt. On 
the second floor is a large saloon with all the im- 
plements of mining and the mode of letting them 
down with men and horses exhibited in transpa- 
rency. On the first is a chapel, presenting an 
17* 



198 FIFTH SERIES. 

altar, statue of the Virgin, crucifix, and figures 
of Casimir I. and his wife, all cut out of the solid 
salt ; before the chapel is a small pulpit in the 
Gothic style. To visit the whole of this extraor- 
dinary and extensive mine, with all its galleries 
and caverns, no less a distance than 300 miles 
must be traversed. 

The salt used in England is chiefly obtained 
from the sea, or salt brine springs. The saline 
water is admitted into open shallow trenches, and 
being exposed to the sun or artificial heat, the 
water is evaporated, and the salt is left in a crys- 
talline state. 

There are salt springs and extensive manufac- 
tories of salt at Salina in New-York and in vari- 
ous other places in the United States. 

The conservative properties of salt render it in- 
valuable for economical purposes, and its stimu- 
lating flavor in correcting the insipidity of food. 
When fused it is used in glazing pottery. It is 
valuable as a manure, on account of its promoting 
the growth of vegetation. 

It was employed in all the, Jewish ceremonies, 
being emblematical of purity and incorruptibility. 
Our blessed Lord calls his disciples the salt of 
the earth, thereby signifying to them, that being 
seasoned with grace themselves, they should sea- 
son and purify others, communicating to them a 
principle which will preserve them from the cor- 
ruption that is in the world. 



LESSON XLVIII. SLATE. 199 

LESSON XLVIII. 

SLATE. 

Slate is a mineral substance ; it is never found 
crystallized, though it is of a foliated structure ; it 
is either of a gray, bluish, or blackish color ; and 
is opaque, dull and brittle. It consists chiefly of 
alumine, with a small quantity of silex. It is dug 
out of quarries j when first taken from them, it is 
comparatively soft, but becomes hard by expo- 
sure to the air. It is used for writing, for whet- 
stones, and for roofing houses. In order to as- 
certain its fitness for the latter purpose, it is 
weighed as soon as it is excavated ; it is then put 
into water for some days : if after being well dried 
it is found to have increased in weight, it is laid 
aside as unsuitable for tlie purpose, the trial having 
proved that it was porous. Sucli slate would not 
only allow water to pass through it and so destroy 
the wood-work of buildings, but it would also be 
liable to be covered wdth lichens and moss, in 
consequence of the moisture which it retains. If 
its quality is ascertained to be good, it is split 
into thin plates for roofing. The tiles are fastened 
to the rafters by pegs driven through holes which 
have been previously made in them ; the edge of 
one is laid ov er the other in the same manner as the 
scales of fishes. Slate which is dark-colored, com- 
pact, and solid, is the best adapted for writing upon. 
In order to prepare the slate for this purpose, it is 
rendered smooth with an iron instrument, and it 
is then ground with sandstone, and slightly pol- 
ished. That which is softer and more friable is 
used for pencils. 



200 _ riFTH SERIES. 



LESSON XLIX. 

CORAL. 

Corals are the secretions made by polype in- 
sects, inhabiting the deep ; they sometimes as- 
sume the forms of branches, of the most beautiful 
appearance ; sometimes they resemble beads strung 
in a necklace, whilst others present a more con- 
solidated mass, but are all perforated with pores 
more or less minute, the haliitations of the little 
architects. 

Among the various phenomena that the works 
of creation open to our view, there are perhaps 
none more calculated to excite astonishment and 
admiration, than the vast coral reefs that rise up 
from the deep, and at times even constitute islands. 
They are produced from a calcareous matter 
which exudes from the coral worm, and harden- 
ing forms at once their habitation and their mau- 
soleum. This creature is of the class of zoo- 
phytes, the lowest grade of animal life, the link 
between it and the vegetable kingdom. They only 
work under water, so that the coral reefs never 
rise above the level of the sea; when the tide 
retires, they appear to be dry compact rock, rug- 
ged, and perforated ; but when the returning 
waters wash its sides, a most interesting spectacle 
of active life is presented, and countless myriads 
of various shapes and colors protrude themselves 
from the orifices, and the whole edifice seenos 
teeminsf with life and animation. 



LESSON XLIX. CORAL. 201 

The growth of the coral ceases when the worm 
is no longer exposed to the washing of the sea ; 
the work is then commenced at the sides, and 
other parts rise in succession till they reach the 
same height, and form a level surface at the top, 
with steep precipitous sides. In this manner, 
and by such insignificant agents, atom deposited 
upon atom, the solid rock is at length produced ; 
upon this the sea deposits sand, mud, and decayed 
sea-weed ; these prepare for mosses and lichens, 
which in their turn form a soil for more perfect 
vegetation ; till at last the island thus formed, be- 
comes a fit residence for man. 

As these rocks are constructed beneath the 
surface of the sea, they present no beacon to warn 
the mariner of their existence, and thus render 
navigation in those seas in which they abound, 
exceedingly dangerous. 



202 

DICTIONARY. 



Ahsorlent, that which sucks up liquids, as sponge. A sub-"" 
stance is never absorbent without being at the same time 
porous, for if there were no pores the fluid could not enter 
the substance. All substances are in a degree porous, 
but we only attribute the quality to those in which it 
is obvious. 

Adhesive, that which is composed of particles, not only uniting 
firmly together, but wliich join themselves to other sub- 
stances. Thus gum, when placed between two pieces of 
paper, attaches itself to each, and causes a union between 
the two. 

Aromatic, that which has a pungent spicy smell. 

Astringent, contracting, causing soft substances to contract. 

Bright, shining. 

Brittle, that which is easily broken : hard substances only are 
brittle. 

Concave, any portion of the internal surface of a hollow sphere. 

Conservative, that which preserves. 

Convex, any portion of the external surface of a sphere. 

Cylindrical, a form having two flat and one curved surface 
as a ruler. 

Ductile, that which is capable of being drawn out into length. 

Dull, that which absorbs the light instead of reflecting it. 

Edible or Eatable, that which is fit for food. 

Elastic, that which, when bent or stretched, returns to its 
original position. 

Effervescent, that which bubbles up from internal commotion. 

Exotic, that which is not produced in our own country. 

Exported, that which is sent out from our ports. 

Flat, a surface is flat that lies evenly between its boundaries: 
as the ceiling, floor, &c. 

Flexible, that which can be bent easily. 

Fluid, that which has parts easily separable, which flows 
about. 

Fragrant, that which has an agreeable smell 

Friable, that which crumbles easily. 

Fusible^ that which melts in fire. 



DICTIONARY. 203 

Granulous, that which separates into grains or small particles 
as sand. 

Hard, that which presents a strong resistance to the touch. 

Imbricated, that which is arranged in the manner of the tiles 
of a house. 

Impressible, that which easily receives and retains an im- 
pression. 

Imported, that which is brought into our ports. 

Incompressible^ that which cannot be forced into a smaller 
compass. 

Indigenous, that which is the natural production of a country : 
this term is applied to vegetables, as native is applied to 
men. 

Inodc^ous, that which has no smell. 

Laminated, that which is arranged in thin coats or laminae. 

Liquid, properly signifies that which is melted ; any thing 
which we can drink, or which forms into drops. Air is a 
fluid. Water is both fluid and liquid : when we speak of it 
as a stream or current, it is properly called a fluid ; but 
when we speak of it as passing from a congealed to a dis- 
solved state, it should properly be called a liquid. 

Magnifying, that which makes things appear larger than they 
actually are. 

Malleable, that which is capable of great extension when 
beaten, without the particles being separated by the opera- 
tion. Thus a grain of gold can be beaten out to a sheet of 
extreme thinness. 

Metallic, that which has the nature of metals. 

Nutritious, that which contains much nourishment. 

Odorous, that which has any smell. 

Opaque, that through which nothing can be seen. 

Cfval, the form of an egg. 

Pliable, that which can be folded easily into plaits. Thus a 
young twig is flexible, hnen is pliable. 

Porous, that which is full of small pores or holes. 

Pulverable, that which can be reduced to a powder. 

Pungent, that which is warm to the taste. 

Reflective, reflecting or giving back an image; this qiiality 
depends upon the former. A river that is bright reflects 
its banks. 

Sapid, that which has a flavor. 

Semi-transparent, that which is seen through imperfectly 



204 DICTIONARY. .^-^f^/ ^- 

)So/f, that which yields to the touch. ^ % i. 

Solid, that which is composed of particles adhering closely 
together ; in this sense it is opposed to fluid. 

Solid, that which fills up a space ; in this sense it is opposed 
to hollovi. 

Soluble, that which melts in a fluid. 

Spherical, the form of a sphere or globe. 

Sparkling, that which does not present a continued brightness, 
but one interrupted, as in sugar. 

Tenacious, that which is composed of particles uniting firmly 
together. Thus gum being tenacious, the particles cannot 
easily be separated, and on this account it acts as a cement. 
Glue being more tenacious acts as a still stronger cement. 

Tough, that which is capable of being bent or stretched with- 
out breaking. 

Translucent, that through which light only can be seen. 

Transparent, that which can be seen through. 

Tuhvlar, a hollow cylinder. 



THE END. 



